Platinum Group Metals (PGM) are used in many industrial applications and the total PGM demand has risen steadily in the past decades. Cumulatively up to 2002, some 8000 t of PGM have been used in total globally, approximately 80 percent of which were utilised from 1980 onwards only. Due to their high value, recycling of PGM is practised on a broad scale and a significant part of the global PGM supply today is derived from secondary sources. Some recent publications project high future secondary supplies e.g. from spent automotive catalysts or from electronic scrap [1]. Nevertheless, when the PGM application segments and their relevant lifecycles are examined closely, it becomes evident that, in some areas, lifecycle efficiencies are not as high as often assumed. This paper analyses the recycling loops of some main PGM-applications and elaborates, why in some areas lifecycle efficiencies are fairly high whereas in other fields, significant losses still occur.
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