Get a full rhenium return

Our proprietary Pyro-Re® precious metals refinery process offers the only pyro-metallurgical recovery of rhenium in the industry. With it, we recover total rhenium content from spent semi-regenerative and cyclic fixed-bed hydrocarbon processing catalysts—and get you a full return.

Most refiners rely on hydro-metallurgical methods that dissolve catalyst material in acids or caustic solutions. The problem: rhenium oxidizes to perrhenate under those conditions and is easily lost in the liquor, especially when alumina-based catalyst matrices create complex, competing dissolution chemistry. What dissolves isn't always what gets recovered.

Pyro-Re® bypasses that loss pathway entirely. We process spent Pt-Re/Al₂O₃ catalysts through a high-temperature pyro-metallurgical furnace sequence that volatilizes rhenium as rhenium heptoxide (Re₂O₇)—its stable gaseous oxide form above 300°C. That volatilized Re₂O₇ is then captured downstream through our proprietary condensation and scrubbing system, converting it to ammonium perrhenate (APR) or reduced to metal, depending on your downstream requirements.

The result: total rhenium accountability across the entire catalyst charge—not just the fraction that dissolves. Because we treat the full melt, including refractory inclusions and occluded metal phases that acid leach simply can't reach, we account for rhenium that other refiners leave behind. Furnace slags are subsequently reprocessed to recover residual platinum group metals, ensuring nothing escapes the circuit.

Whether you're returning spent catalyst from naphtha reforming or cyclic platforming units, Pyro-Re® is engineered to close your rhenium loop completely.

If you want a clearer overview of platinum group metals, their role in industry, and why recovery matters, read our guide.