In the chlor-alkali industry, securing a stable supply of rare metals and efficient reuse are becoming issues of growing importance. Furuya Metal will contribute toward the establishment of a precious metal recycling process in the chlor-alkali industry through this initiative.
In this initiative, first, Asahi Kasei will collect electrodes that have reached the end of their service life from Nobian. Next, at Mastermelt and Furuya Metal, separation of catalysts from electrodes and processing of separated catalysts in preparation for the next process will be carried out, and precious metals will be extracted from the separated catalysts and purified to a higher level. Then, Asahi Kasei will manufacture electrodes coated with catalysts that use these precious metals as raw materials (hereinafter, “recycled-catalyst electrodes”). Nobian will carry out chlor-alkali electrolysis using these recycled-catalyst electrodes, allowing resource circulation in the manufacturing of caustic soda and chlorine. In this way, the four companies will collaborate to promote the establishment of a recycling process that recovers and reuses metals—including precious metals—from used cells and electrodes.
