An article published in the "Journal of Industrial Ecology"
The article written by Mathieu Saurat and Stefan Bringezu entitled "Platinum Group Metal Flows of Europe, Part 1 - Global Supply, Use in Industry, and Shifting of Environmental Impacts" analyses the flows of the platinum group metals (PMGs) including palladium and rhodium in addition to platinum. A model has been developed to establish the connection between the use of PGMs and the related environmental burden distinguishing between the primary production of the (raw-) PMGs in Siberia, South Africa and Canada and the secondary production of platinum metals in Europe. One of the results shows that the environmental impacts of primary production exceed by far those of secondary production due to the production and extraction methods of the raw material. The consequence is that catalytic converters for the automotive industry requiring large quantities of primary PMGs, and actually intended to reduce air pollutant emissions in Europe, are indeed leading to considerable negative environmental impacts at the extraction and refining sites. Other industrial sectors as for example the chemical, petroleum and glass industries mainly use secondary platinum metals with a lower environmental impact at production level.
The article was published in the "Journal of Industrial Ecology", vol. 12 (2008), no. 5-6.
