Rhenium in Spent Catalysts: The Hidden Value Refineries Miss

Spent catalyst turnarounds are expensive and logistically painful, so when a recycler hauls away spent Pt-Re catalyst material and hands back a platinum settlement, most procurement and engineering teams take a deep breath and move on.

That is understandable. It can also be costly, because there is a good chance that rhenium value left with that material and went unaccounted for.

When rhenium leaves the refinery in a spent catalyst, there is no announcement. The metal settles in alongside platinum in storage, and recovering it gets little attention. That lack of focus has a price. Rhenium prices climbed more than 70% above the 2024 average moving into 2025, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026. Every Pt-Re catalyst changeout that skips rhenium recovery can leave money behind.

Many refineries do not realize how much value they can recover, in part because some recyclers never attempt rhenium recovery in the first place.

What Is Rhenium and Why Is It in Your Catalysts?

Rhenium does not get much press. It is not gold or platinum, and outside specialty metallurgy circles most people have never heard of it. Inside a petroleum reforming unit, though, it earns its keep every day.

Pt-Re bimetallic catalysts have been the industry standard for catalytic reforming since the 1970s, and the rhenium is in there on purpose. Catalyst suppliers such as Exxon, UOP, Axens, and others include it primarily because it stabilizes the catalyst and improves selectivity in platforming and reforming units. Without the rhenium, these formulations would operate at significantly reduced effectiveness.

Rhenium is also among the rarest naturally occurring elements on Earth. It is produced primarily as a by-product of molybdenum and copper mining, so there are no rhenium-specific mines that can simply ramp up output. That supply constraint, combined with volatile commodity prices, has pushed rhenium sharply higher.

A typical spent reforming catalyst will contain anywhere from 0.2% to 0.4% rhenium by weight. Scaled across a full turnaround volume of catalyst material, the numbers add up quickly.

The Rhenium Recovery Gap: Why Most Refineries Miss It

The spent catalyst recycling industry was essentially built around platinum. Most of the infrastructure and many existing contracts were established on platinum pricing, which is why nearly all recycler contracts still reference Pt as the primary commodity.

Rhenium, although an important component of these catalyst formulations, has been largely overlooked by that same group. Many refiners do not know how much rhenium exists in their spent catalyst streams, and if they cannot measure it, they typically will not settle it.

So when a refinery receives payment for a given platinum content, the assumption is that the payment represents the total value of the material. In some cases, refineries ship spent catalyst to recyclers that simply cannot process rhenium, and that value is lost. Not because anyone intentionally skipped it, but because no one knew the opportunity existed.

Here is a rough way to think about the exposure: a mid-size refinery running meaningful volumes of Pt-Re catalyst, with rhenium content in that 0.2% to 0.4% range and prices up over 70% year over year, can be looking at tens of thousands of dollars in unrecovered value per changeout. Some facilities considerably more.

Why Only a Handful of Refiners Can Recover Rhenium

Rhenium recovery from alumina-based spent catalysts is not a variation on platinum group metal refining. It requires distinct chemistry, different processing steps, and real expertise with a metal most recyclers have never seriously pursued.

Only a couple of refiners in the world have the capability and process expertise needed to recover rhenium from spent Pt-Re catalysts. Sabin Metal Corporation is one of them.

Receiving, pre-processing, homogeneous sampling, and assaying all have to be calibrated to detect rhenium at trace levels, because accuracy drops quickly if any of those steps is handled loosely. Sabin's process is built around getting each step right, supported by rigorous sampling techniques and proven lab analysis methods that determine how much rhenium is in your material. It is backed by LPPM-related due diligence, CHWMEG facility review credentials, decades of hands-on experience, and ongoing R&D investment.

If a recycler cannot provide a rhenium assay alongside the platinum settlement, the likely explanation is that the rhenium was not recovered.

Feel free to contact Sabin to help with your recycling and recovery of rhenium project.

How to Evaluate Your Spent Catalyst for Rhenium Value

The evaluation does not require a research project. It comes down to three steps and a little math.

Request a rhenium-inclusive assay on the next spent catalyst lot

If your recycler cannot provide one, that tells you something important about their rhenium capability.

Look at the settlement terms already in place

Is there anything about rhenium in your current recycler contract? If you are not being paid for it, you are not recovering it.

Run the numbers

Current turnaround catalyst volumes typically carry rhenium at 0.2% to 0.4% by weight, against a backdrop of sharply rising prices. When prices jump more than 70% in twelve months, the math gets easier to justify.

Sabin's complete receiving, pre-processing, homogeneous sampling, and assaying services offer a useful benchmark for evaluating the recovery process, and our Knowledge Center is a good next stop if you want to go deeper.

FAQ: Rhenium in Spent Catalysts

How has the rhenium market shifted recently?

Prices rose more than 70% above the 2024 average moving into 2025, according to the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026. Primary supply remains structurally constrained while demand continues to grow across aerospace, superalloys, and other applications.

Can rhenium be recovered from any spent catalyst?

The primary focus is Pt-Re bimetallic reforming catalysts. These alumina-based catalytic materials are among the most concentrated and commercially viable sources for recovering rhenium within the refining industry.

How much rhenium is actually in a spent reforming catalyst?

Typical rhenium content runs 0.2% to 0.4% by weight, varying with the original catalyst supplier and use history.

The Value Is Already There. It Just Needs the Right Recycler.

Every spent Pt-Re catalyst sent to a recycler without rhenium recovery capability is a missed opportunity. The rhenium is in the material and it is recoverable. The variable is whether the recycler has the process to find it and return it into the market supply and to the customer.

With rhenium prices climbing and primary supply constrained, secondary recovery from spent catalysts creates more value than ever. When your next turnaround comes, contact Sabin to help with your recycling and recovery of rhenium project.