why catalytic converters are so valuable.
In: Engineering
They contain three metals – platinum, palladium, and rhodium – which are all very valuable in their own right. Theives steal them and either resell (as new CCs are expensive due to the metals) or strip the metals out and resell just that.
A catalyst is a material that makes a chemical reaction happen easily. In a catalytic converter, precious metals are the catalyst, and their function is to make dangerous things in the exhaust break down into safer things before being released out the tailpipe.
Most of a catalytic converter’s value is the scrap value of the precious metals in the catalyst – platinum, palladium, and rhodium. They’re valuable because they’re rare, resistant to corrosion, and make really good catalysts for all sorts of processes.
TLDR: There’s a few hundred dollars worth of platinum in there.
I worked at a major jewelry manufacturer and my boss once told me some of our platinum came from catalytic converters. I don’t know if it’s true but I hope they were ethically sourced if it is
Latest Answers