Nothing is lost
Solid/liquid separation in the recovery of precious metal catalyst powders

Fundamental separation technology is key to reducing losses of precious metal catalyst in chemical processing. Recent price increases in these catalysts as well as environmental and work place regulations have put efficient catalyst recovery more in the forefront. Self-cleaning pressure candle filters have found wide acceptance in catalyst recovery. Two applications show what solutions the Fundabac/Contibac filtration technology has provided in view of these new requirements.
Heterogeneous, gas-liquid reactions of the slurrytype employ finely dispersed catalyst powders. Subsequently processing is required to deliver a product solution that is free of suspended solids. The recovery of the catalyst itself represents a significant saving in applications involving precious metal supported types, such as palladium or platinum on carbon. Price increases of these metals over the past years have focused attention on more efficient catalyst recovery to maintain the economic viability of slurrytype reactions.