2017 Volume 81 Issue 4 Pages 178-185
The oxidation–distillation method was used to separate ruthenium (Ru) from a solution containing platinum group metals. In this method, Ru was oxidized to ruthenium tetraoxide (RuO4). The RuO4 was then distilled and recovered from a hydrochloric acid (HCl) solution. In this study, sodium bromate (NaBrO3) was used as the oxidizer, and the amount of NaBrO3 needed to convert Ru to RuO4 was investigated. The Ru in the HCl solution was precipitated as an ammonium ruthenium complex salt by addition of ammonium chloride (NH4Cl) under various conditions and temperatures. The relationship between the precipitation conditions and the properties of the precipitated salts was investigated. The purity of the Ru powder, obtained by pyrolysis of the precipitated salt, was also analyzed.
