Various precious metals, plus the more common elements aluminum, cobalt, and lithium, are all easily sold so recyclers and scrap dealers look for auto parts containing those elements. With the global demand for scrap metal, a trio of factors drive the market for catalytic converter scrap and other scrap metal recycling as well. The main factor is, of course, demand for certain metals. The platinum group metals (PGMs) are important and in short supply. But demand for aluminum and lead is also high.
Supply Shortages Drive Demand for Catalytic Converter Scrap and More
Demand for platinum, palladium, and rhodium tends to outstrip the amount taken from the ground, because supplies are limited by each metal’s extreme rarity. This reality virtually guarantees there will be a market for scrap metal salvaged from, among other sources, catalytic converter scrap. The demand for PGMs is easy to understand once you know more about them and their many uses in science and industry. The demand for lithium and cobalt, two components in electric vehicle batteries, also drives demand for used batteries to recycle, though lithium-ion battery packs are relatively new and so few have reached scrapyards.
About Platinum Group Metals
Platinum, palladium, and rhodium are corrosion-resistant and melt at extremely high temperatures. Palladium and platinum are also ductile (easily drawn out into wires). Those characteristics almost guarantee that global demand for PGMs is high, but supply is limited by these metals’ rarity. Those two facts almost guarantee a high price. Almost everyone knows that catalytic converters use platinum and/or palladium to clean up emissions from car engines. Catalytic converter use does claim a sizable percentage of those metals because they are so effective at catalyzing various reactions, including those useful in controlling vehicle emissions.
Here are some of the other uses for each of those PGMs:
Palladium – This exceedingly rare silvery-white metal is used in electronics, medicine, and dentistry as well as in jewelry and fuel cells.
Platinum – This rare, silvery-white metal is also used in jewelry, as well as in some laboratory equipment; in electrical contacts and vehicle oxygen sensors; and in delivering chemotherapy drugs.
Rhodium – This rare silvery-white metal is the rarest of the three. It is also used in jewelry, plating of silver utensils, in neutron flux detectors for nuclear reactors, and more. It is sometimes alloyed with platinum or palladium, to make them even more corrosion resistant.
With the diverse uses for these metals and the limited supply, prices are bound to be high. The market price fluctuates though. Platinum may fluctuate by plus or minus $50 in a week. Palladium and rhodium also go through regular swings in their prices. Regardless of price fluctuations catalytic converter scrap remains valuable because of the PGM content. Given the value of these metals, it does not really matter than a single catalytic converter holds a fraction of an ounce; A large collection of parts may end up containing a pound each of platinum and palladium, and perhaps a little bit of rhodium.
Recycling companies, like Belanger Converter Recycling buy used catalytic converters and recycle them to get the valuable PGMs. These recyclers form part of an ecosystem of scrapyards, recycling companies, and smelting operations that help meet global demand for scrap metal recycling to reclaim precious metals, as well as for valuable industrial metals like lithium and cobalt.
Oxygen sensors also contain platinum or palladium in tiny amounts. But that tiny amount means some recyclers will buy scrap oxygen sensors for a couple of dollars a pound. Recycling companies may also be able to reclaim the indium in the sensors. This relatively rare metal fetches over $200 per pound.
Catalytic Converter & Other Scrap Recycling Options
Very few companies will have the people and equipment they need to break apart catalytic converters, melt down the cores, then chemically extract the PGMs and form them into ingots. Therefore, companies like Belanger Converter Recycling exist, to help sellers get their precious metal scrap into the hands of processors who can handle the steps that come after removing a catalytic converter.
Hedging is a standard technique for getting some insurance against fluctuating prices. You can get a commitment to buy at a certain price now rather than waiting and hoping the price is the same or higher in a couple of weeks. Remember that PGM prices are volatile, so that $10,000 today may be $9,000 in two weeks, or $11,000.
Other scrap metals or old auto parts may be bundled up on pallets and shipped off to a commercial recycling center. Car batteries can be sent to a recycling facility, commercial or not. Aluminum wheels can be treated the same way. Some recyclers may take other recyclable components of cars, like nickel metal-hydride batteries and lithium-ion batteries.
Economic Realities Make Catalytic Converter Recycling Good Business
Scrap metal recycling is popular because of a combination of environmental concerns and to recover and reuse valuable metals. Catalytic converter scrap is of particular interest because of containing PGMs. Belanger Converter Recycling focuses on helping individuals and businesses make money from their catalytic converter scrap, in addition to recycling aluminum wheels and lead-acid automotive batteries.
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