Should you trust catalyst catalogs?

The history of catalyst catalogs begins at the same time as the first converting plants appeared.

All major converters have their own service catalogs.

The purpose of the service catalogs was to have an understanding of the quality of catalysts in a particular market. The catalogs were inaccurate as they were based on XRF analysis rather than chemical analysis.

In the article «How much is your catalyst?» it is mentioned, that the deception starts with the catalyst manufacturers. Otherwise, recyclers would buy information on the content of precious metals in catalysts directly from manufacturers.

In the mid-2000s, a network of companies with their own equipment and XRF analyzers was formed in the European and CIS markets.

Other companies unable to purchase equipment had to solve a dilemma - to close their business or come up with a cheap alternative to expensive equipment.

Help came from the processing plants themselves. After the 2010 crisis, refiners experienced difficult times - the number of raw materials supplies decreased. If earlier they looked disdainfully towards small companies, now they decided to help them, hoping to increase the supply of raw materials.

This is how “catalogs for the purchase of catalysts” appeared. Naturally, these were the usual old catalogs for internal use.

Pricing in the catalog is summed up in such a way that the cost is approximately 65-70% of the real price.

It is noteworthy that the refiners themselves do not buy catalysts from the catalog.

Any specialist in the field of catalyst processing knows that it is impossible to compile a high-quality catalog, since there are too many factors that affect the remainder of the precious metal content in the catalyst (manufacturer, operating time, driving speed, fuel, additives, climatic conditions, etc.). One and the same catalyst (of the same brand and model) may have a different content of precious metal.

We recommend buying and selling catalysts based on XRF rapid analysis (98% accuracy), but the final choice is up to the customer.