Platinum group metals (PGMs) are widely applied in the field of catalysts due to their excellent catalyst activity and high-temperature stability. The rapid generation of the waste catalyst has become the significant characteristic of PGMs with the accelerating consumption of limited PGMs nature resources. It is necessary to recover/recycle PGMs from a waste catalyst for both economic and environmental benefits. This paper reviews the PGMs recovery from waste catalysts using a metals smelting-collection process, which belongs to the main pyrometallurgical process, in the presence of various metal collectors, such as lead, copper, iron, matte, print circuit board (PCB) or reactive metals of calcium and magnesium. The current status of recovery of PGMs from waste catalysts through the addition of various metals as the collector is discussed and existing advantages and challenges are highlighted in this paper. Meanwhile, in the view of the promising processes of PGMs recovery, the influencing factors such as the economic, environmentally friendly, sustainable recycling, commercial scale, and low-grade materials are considered.
Keywords: Hazardous waste management; metal collectors; precious metals; pyrometallurgy; recovery; waste catalysts.