Improvement of the Standard Method for Detection of Platinum, Palladium and Rhodium in Vehicle Ceramic Catalyst

Abstract

Formic acid was used for the pretreatment of automotive ceramic catalysts was studied, then using acid digestion with the optimized HJ 509-2009 standard method. The content of platinum, palladium and rhodium in catalyst samples was determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The results showed that the sample was pretreated with 3 mL formic acid and dried after reaction, then added 4 mL hydrochloric acid, 3 mL nitric acid and 3 mL hydrofluoric acid. Microwave digesting for 0.5 h at 180 ℃, and then through the acid-driving, reflux steps, the recoveries of Pt, Pd and Rh were all within 95%-105% range. This method had improved the application of HJ 509-2009 standard method to some samples, and can safely test requirements of current automotive ceramic catalysts.