Recycling Road Dust
by Matthew Sparkes, London, UK on 07.11.07
All sorts of nasty chemicals are emitted by cars, but some of them have uses, and some are even quite precious. For example, catalytic converters use platinum which slowly gets lost through exhaust fumes. These chemicals can be extracted from road dust and reused, according to researchers at Cardiff University. This is good news in two ways; energy and land will be saved because of a reduced need to mine for platinum, and because the process will remove these materials from the roads.
Dr Hazel Prichard of Cardiff University estimates that many kilogrammes of platinum are being sprayed on to streets and roads every year. “Platinum is a vital component not only of catalytic converters but also of fuel cells. Fuel cells are an important new source of clean energy. Platinum is a precious metal and resources are scarce and expensive. Our research is looking at ways of recycling platinum and other precious metals.”
The problem is that this platinum is very widely spread. It wouldn't be cost effective to extract it from the dust on road surfaces. One way this system might be cost-effective is to take it from the waste containers in road-sweepers. ::Cardiff University
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Paper, Rotten Fruit Help Recover Precious Metals from e-Waste
- Emissions from Soil Organic Carbon Not as Bad as Previously Thought
- Will the Next New Deal be Transit-Based? Three Plans to Rescue the Economy and the Earth with Public Transportation
- "I Have Seen Things" - Japan Car At London's Science Museum
While I'm all for reusing/recycling, AND cleaning up the streets, I don't think we should be looking at this as a way to get more platinum for cat's and fuel cells.
Cat's should just be phased out as gasoline cars get phased out, and fuel cell R&D departments the world over need to be looking at alternatives to platinum and gold and other very limited "precious" metals.
"Precious" metals are so-called because there's just not a lot of it out there, or there's no real easy way to extract it (like titanium and aluminum in the past). They should be used in mass industry as little as possible, and industry should do everything in its power to find alternatives.
Use the reclaimed platinum for interesting jewelry or something instead..
On a similar note, I've heard it's almost economically viable to dredge NYC harbor to extract the platinum from all the years of road runoff. Maybe in another couple decades