Our goal – to close as many material life cycles as possible – can only be achieved if each and every detail of the recovery process is planned and performed efficiently and professionally. This not only involves operating a well-coordinated system of logistics, sorting and pre-treatment processes but also, and above all, having cutting-edge analysis and recovery systems. They are the centrepiece of our specialist facility, where precious metals are recovered every single day under the strictest security measures.
No matter where the precious metals may be – in liquids such as electroplating solutions or in solids such as sensors – we will get them out. We always select the technology that best combines cost effectiveness with the best recycling results – from analysing the incoming materials all the way through to recovering the final product. A short description of some of these processes can be found below.
Cupellation is a process used to separate precious metals, such as gold and silver, from alloys containing other base metals. To do this, the metal that is to be tested – or assayed – is melted down with lead. This causes a chemical reaction during which the base metals are bound in the newly formed lead oxide and so separated from the precious metal.
ICP (inductively coupled plasma) is a type of atomic spectrometry for carrying out quantitative and qualitative analyses on chemical elements. This is an inherent part of our operations which we use to determine the precious metals in your residual materials.
This process is used to calculate silver content by causing a chemical reaction between a solution containing an unknown amount of silver and a reagent. It is possible to determine the concentration of the silver by calculating how much of the reagent is used up during the process.
XRF (X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy) is a method used for material analysis by which the amount of precious metal content is determined using X-ray fluorescence.
Metals can be recovered from solutions using electrolysis – also known as electrolytic refining. This is made possible by the so-called redox reaction, during which electrical energy is transformed into chemical energy.
Efficiency and progress go hand in hand. Which is why we carry out R&D work each and every day – to develop new technologies and techniques so that precious metals can be recovered even more efficiently and even more cost effectively. Work we really want to do for ourselves and because we wish to offer our customers the highest standard of service possible.