Highly selective separation of palladium from spent catalysts by ozonation with ultrasonic enhancement in a low-acid medium

It is of great significance to consider the recovery of palladium from spent catalyst in terms of resource reserve and environmental protection. However, the leaching percentage of palladium is limited by high oxidation potential and cladding layer. In order to solve this process problem, external field enhancement method with ultrasonic-assisted ozone is proposed for the recycling of palladium in this study. Mechanical and cavitation effects of ultrasonic can destroy cladding layer and promote solid-liquid interface reaction. The highly oxidizing free radicals generated by ultrasonic excitation of ozone can improve the oxidation of the reaction system and accelerate the oxidation rate of palladium. The leaching percentage of palladium is 93.7% under ultrasonic/ ozone condition, which is 23.7% higher than that under conventional conditions. The leaching reaction kinetics shows that the reaction barrier is reduced and the apparent activation energy is reduced by 35.25 kJ/mol after introducing ultrasound and ozone. Additionally, mineralogical analysis is carried out to analyze the enhanced leaching mechanism of palladium. This work demonstrates the value of advanced oxidation process with ultrasonic-assisted ozone in efficient and green recovery of precious metals from secondary resources.