German Converter Recycling Process Sparks Growth

Precious metal recycling company Duesmann & Hensel Recycling GmbH, Aschaffenburg, Germany, has announced recent expansions in both personnel and plant capacity.

“Duesmann & Hensel Recycling has developed from a catalytic converter collector into a precious metal recycling specialist thanks to a strategic re-equipping over the last two years,” the company notes in a press release.

The company now employs 25 people at its headquarters location and has invested more than 1 million Euros to upgrade its metals recycling plant in Aschaffenburg. The firm has also established an operation with eight employees in Rheine, Germany, in 2005.

A new process used by Duesmann & Hensel Recycling can recover precious metals not only from ceramic converters but also from metallic converters, according to the firm. Many of these metallic units “have long been thought of as uneconomic to reprocess,” the company claims in its news release.

“The plant and equipment needed to reprocess the two different categories of catalytic converters are completely different; the result, however, is the same in both cases: a high concentrate containing precious metals is then sent to a suitable refinery for separation into the various precious metals of platinum, palladium and rhodium,” according to Duesmann & Hensel.

The company accepts converters from customers from throughout the world, with major collection operations in nations such as Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, the Benelux nations, France and Switzerland.

Its process for recycling metallic catalytic converters has prompted Duesmann & Hensel Recycling to also connect with customers from the United States and Asia, according to the firm. More information on the company can be found at www.duerec.com.