Patent ID: 7044995

Claim:
A process for preparing pure PGMs from a material comprising a plurality of PGM compounds, wherein said PGM is selected from the group consisting of Pt, Pd, Os, Ir, Ru, Rh and Re, said process comprising: (i) preparing an aqueous solution containing ions of said plurality of PGMs from said material; (ii) adjusting the pH of said solution to a value selected from 6–8; (iii) treating said pH adjusted solution with a reducing agent to precipitate said activated PGMs as particulate metals; (iv) collecting said particulate activated PGMs; (v) reacting said particulate activated PGMs with a gaseous reactant to produce a gaseous mixture comprising at least a first volatile PGM complex having a first decomposition temperature and a second volatile PGM complex having a second decomposition temperature, said first decomposition temperature being lower than second decomposition temperature, and a first residue; (vi) separating said gaseous mixture from said first residue; (vii) heating said gaseous mixture to said first decomposition temperature to produce a pure first PGM and a first volatile PGM complex-free gaseous mixture; (viii) collecting said pure first PGM; (ix) heating said first volatile PGM complex-free gaseous mixture to said second decomposition temperature to produce a pure second PGM and a second gaseous mixture; and (x) collecting said pure second PGM.