Crystallization
Platinum sits at both ends of the hydrogen chain: it is the cathode of the PEM water electrolyser (whose anode is iridium) and the working catalyst of the fuel cell.
Technology brief
Platinum sits at both ends of the hydrogen chain: it is the cathode of the PEM water electrolyser (whose anode is iridium) and the working catalyst of the fuel cell.
The challenge
Primary use cases: platinum (+ Pd, Rh) recovery from autocatalyst-recycler leachates and raffinates, e-waste leachates, refinery and reforming-catalyst regeneration effluent, PGM refinery raffinates and bleed streams.
Outputs/uses: platinum and sister PGMs to the operator's existing chemistry; clean water; dry ballast fractions.
Industries and users: autocatalyst recyclers, PGM refiners, oil refineries and catalyst regenerators, fuel-cell and electrolyser makers.
Scale: container-class; single unit to cascades on recycler/refinery effluent circuits.
ARBOK solution
Platinum sits at both ends of the hydrogen chain: it is the cathode of the PEM water electrolyser (whose anode is iridium) and the working catalyst of the fuel cell. Iridium therefore limits how much hydrogen can be produced; platinum limits how much can be used. Supply cannot respond: South Africa holds 70–80% of mine output and 91% of reserves, and its production fell from 5.3 Moz (2006) to 3.9 Moz (2025), −26%, across two decades of rising prices; world primary output in 2026 is −5% y/y to 5.51 Moz. The 2025 deficit was a record 1.082 Moz, 350–700 koz/yr is projected to 2030, and above-ground stocks are down to about four months of consumption. Recycling is ~25% of supply and the only growing source, but vehicle lives are lengthening and new converters carry less platinum, so scrap grows more slowly than mining declines. The additional ounce can come only from material already in process and incompletely recovered — the liquid tail of recycler and refinery circuits.
> Core technology and architecture: see ARBOK-VC (Vacuum Cracking). This entry covers the platinum feedstock, market, and economics.
Per the platform: the whole effluent stream is concentrated by deep vacuum at ambient temperature; only water evaporates and condenses as clean product (no membranes, electrodes, or reagents in the core; zero liquid tails). Ballast — chlorides, acids, base metals — exits as dry fractions; platinum concentrates with the palladium and rhodium mobilised in the same stream. The concentrate is fed to the recycler's own selective chemistry. ARBOK does not replace the flowsheet; it removes the volume problem that made chasing the tail uneconomic.
Market and application
The hydrogen build-out is constrained on both sides by PGMs, and platinum is the side that governs consumption. With the mine in a twenty-year decline through a tripling of price, and secondary supply capped by vehicle life and falling loadings, the recoverable tail inside existing recycling circuits is the cheapest incremental supply available — the metal is already mined, milled and dissolved.
Reference: one standard containerized module at $56,600/kg Pt.
Total: up to $30 M/year from one container, the range set by how deeply the site already cleans its liquors.
World frame: ~56 t of platinum a year passes through recycling, a flow of ~$3.2 bn; tail losses of 2–5% are $60–160 M/year of recoverable metal, of which the US is about a quarter, $15–40 M/year. Note for all external use: the billions are the *throughput*, not the loss. Writing "billions are lost" is the sentence WPIC would use to discredit the whole case.
Use cases
Primary use cases: platinum (+ Pd, Rh) recovery from autocatalyst-recycler leachates and raffinates, e-waste leachates, refinery and reforming-catalyst regeneration effluent, PGM refinery raffinates and bleed streams.
Outputs/uses: platinum and sister PGMs to the operator's existing chemistry; clean water; dry ballast fractions.
Industries and users: autocatalyst recyclers, PGM refiners, oil refineries and catalyst regenerators, fuel-cell and electrolyser makers.
Scale: container-class; single unit to cascades on recycler/refinery effluent circuits.
Steps: effluent assay → recovery + finishing configuration → install on the effluent circuit → commissioning. Purchase (payback 5–8 years) or BOOM (Build, Own, Operate, Maintain; PAY&GO + off-take at a discount to the exchange price).
Co-locates with autocatalyst recycling and PGM refining effluent circuits, e-waste hydrometallurgy, and refinery catalyst-regeneration sites; cascades with other metal recovery on the platform.
Platinum sits at both ends of the hydrogen chain: it is the cathode of the PEM water electrolyser (whose anode is iridium) and the working catalyst of the fuel cell. Iridium therefore limits how much hydrogen can be produced; platinum limits how much can be used. Supply cannot respond: South Africa holds 70–80% of mine output and 91% of reserves, and its production fell from 5.3 Moz (2006) to 3.9 Moz (2025), −26%, across two decades of rising prices; world primary output in 2026 is −5% y/y to 5.51 Moz. The 2025 deficit was a record 1.082 Moz, 350–700 koz/yr is projected to 2030, and above-ground stocks are down to about four months of consumption. Recycling is ~25% of supply and the only growing source, but vehicle lives are lengthening and new converters carry less platinum, so scrap grows more slowly than mining declines. The additional ounce can come only from material already in process and incompletely recovered — the liquid tail of recycler and refinery circuits.
> Core technology and architecture: see ARBOK-VC (Vacuum Cracking). This entry covers the platinum feedstock, market, and economics.
Primary use cases: platinum (+ Pd, Rh) recovery from autocatalyst-recycler leachates and raffinates, e-waste leachates, refinery and reforming-catalyst regeneration effluent, PGM refinery raffinates and bleed streams.
Outputs/uses: platinum and sister PGMs to the operator's existing chemistry; clean water; dry ballast fractions.
Industries and users: autocatalyst recyclers, PGM refiners, oil refineries and catalyst regenerators, fuel-cell and electrolyser makers.
Scale: container-class; single unit to cascades on recycler/refinery effluent circuits.
Per the platform: the whole effluent stream is concentrated by deep vacuum at ambient temperature; only water evaporates and condenses as clean product (no membranes, electrodes, or reagents in the core; zero liquid tails). Ballast — chlorides, acids, base metals — exits as dry fractions; platinum concentrates with the palladium and rhodium mobilised in the same stream. The concentrate is fed to the recycler's own selective chemistry. ARBOK does not replace the flowsheet; it removes the volume problem that made chasing the tail uneconomic.
Platform base: deep vacuum, ambient temperature; water return up to 100%; energy below 1 kWh/m³ net; a standard containerized module; service life 15–20 years.
Resource: price $1,760/oz (mid-2026), +32.6% y/y ≈ $56,600/kg; South Africa 70–80% of output, 91% of reserves; 2026 primary output 5.51 Moz (−5%); 2025 deficit 1.082 Moz (record); recycling ~25% of supply.
Feed concentrations: dissolved Pt in recycler/refinery liquor taken across 0.1–2 mg/L (assay per stream — the single most important measurement).
Companions: Pd typically 1–2× Pt by mass in mixed autocatalyst material, Rh 0.1–0.2×; Pd $44,320/kg, Rh $260,000/kg.
Loadings: fuel-cell truck up to 100 g Pt; H2 passenger car up to 5 g.
Platform vacuum separation + dry ballast extraction + Pt/PGM selective ion-exchange/solvent-extraction finishing. Container-class: a standard containerized module, installed in parallel to match stream volume.
Technical: recovers the dissolved fraction that classical polishing structurally loses; co-recovers Pd and Rh on the same pass; indifferent to matrix (high salinity, low pH, multi-metal).
Economic: cost per m³ set by phase-change energy, independent of concentration; water and eliminated discharge carry OPEX, so platinum comes at near-zero marginal cost.
Environmental: ZWD; 100% water return; no roasting, no SO₂/CO₂; no metal-bearing sludge.
Strategic: adds non-South-African secondary supply into a market with four months of stock cover.
Co-locates with autocatalyst recycling and PGM refining effluent circuits, e-waste hydrometallurgy, and refinery catalyst-regeneration sites; cascades with other metal recovery on the platform.
Steps: effluent assay → recovery + finishing configuration → install on the effluent circuit → commissioning. Purchase (payback 5–8 years) or BOOM (Build, Own, Operate, Maintain; PAY&GO + off-take at a discount to the exchange price).
Platform TRL 9. Platinum finishing uses proven classical IX/SX chemistry on the concentrate; per-site configuration and field reference pending.
The hydrogen build-out is constrained on both sides by PGMs, and platinum is the side that governs consumption. With the mine in a twenty-year decline through a tripling of price, and secondary supply capped by vehicle life and falling loadings, the recoverable tail inside existing recycling circuits is the cheapest incremental supply available — the metal is already mined, milled and dissolved.
Reference: one standard containerized module at $56,600/kg Pt.
Total: up to $30 M/year from one container, the range set by how deeply the site already cleans its liquors.
World frame: ~56 t of platinum a year passes through recycling, a flow of ~$3.2 bn; tail losses of 2–5% are $60–160 M/year of recoverable metal, of which the US is about a quarter, $15–40 M/year. Note for all external use: the billions are the *throughput*, not the loss. Writing "billions are lost" is the sentence WPIC would use to discredit the whole case.
Feed-concentration dependence (assay per stream); Pt price volatility; finishing-stage configuration per site; offtake and grade qualification; conservative refining incumbents; needs a platinum field reference.
ARBOK-Rhodium · ARBOK-Palladium · ARBOK-Ruthenium · ARBOK-Copper-Waters
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