Technology Licensing Opportunity - This is not a procurement. 

Palladium Leaching Chemistry

Selectively Recovering Palladium from Palladium-Containing Materials

Opportunity:   Idaho National Laboratory (INL), managed and operated by Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC (BEA), is offering the opportunity to enter into a license and/or collaborative research agreement to commercialize the Palladium Leaching Chemistry technology.

Background:   Palladium is a precious metal exhibiting useful properties suitable for a wide range of applications. Palladium can be over 10% of the metal value in e-scrap and is recognized as a critical material of interest to clean energy technologies. Palladium is also used as a catalyst material in industrial processes such as hydrogenation and dehydrogenation reactions and in automotive catalytic converters.

Description:    Researchers at INL have developed a new process for the extraction of palladium from e-waste feedstocks. One of the most common solutions currently used in palladium recovery processes is hydrogen peroxide in hydrochloric acid. This chemistry is typically operated close to boiling temperature (80°C). INL’s process improves upon this common solution with the addition of a low cost reducing agent, which allows for room temperature operation with a fourfold increase in leaching rate. This process complements INL’s E-RECOV process by allowing recyclers to extract more value from their e-waste resources.

Applications:  This process can be applied in metal recycling and refining applications. Possible waste feedstocks include active material from catalytic converters and e-scrap metallic waste streams.

Advantages:    This method can operate at room temperature and shows recovery rates similar to other leaching processes performed at much higher temperatures.

Impact:           This process would allow for time and energy savings on current processes.

Development: This method has been tested. Further work is being done to optimize the formulation for specific applications.

IP Status:        Filed US Patent Application No. 16/541,930 “Methods of Selectively Recovering Palladium from a Palladium-Containing Material”

INL is seeking to license the above intellectual property to a company with a demonstrated ability to bring such inventions to the market. Exclusive rights in defined fields of use may be available.

Please visit Technology Deployment’s website at https://inl.gov/inl-initiatives/technology-deployment for more information on working with INL and the industrial partnering and technology transfer process.

Companies interested in learning more about this licensing opportunity should contact Ryan Bills at [email protected].