Patent ID: 8475749

Claim:
A method for recovery of noble metals from noble metal-containing compositions, the method comprising the steps of: i) providing a noble metal-containing composition containing an adsorption agent, comprising an inorganic material and functionalized by organic groups; and having at least one noble metal adsorbed to the absorption agent; ii) ashing of the noble metal-containing composition to adjust a residual carbon content to at most 10% by weight, relative to the total weight of the noble metal-containing composition after ashing, to obtain an ashed composition; iii) at least partial dissolution of the ashed composition in an alkaline aqueous solution to obtain a noble metal-containing residue; iv) at least partial dissolution of the noble metal-containing residue in an oxidizing aqueous acid to obtain an aqueous salt solution of the noble metal; and v) optionally, recovering the noble metal through reduction of the noble metal salt solution.