Mitsui has done it!The demand for diesel particulate filters that use silver instead of platinum and palladium is going to explode. The case for industrial demand growth in silver just got a whole lot stronger today.
https://www.miningmx.com/mining_fin/395594.htm
Mitsui in talks to sell silver-based autocats
Reuters
Posted: Tue, 27 May 2008
[miningmx.com]-- MITSUI Mining and Smelting Co Ltd aims to start commercialproduction of its new, less costly catalyst -- which applies silverrather than platinum -- in 2011/12, a company official said on Tuesday.
The use of silver instead of the more expensive platinum, currentlytrading near a historical high, will enable the company to cut metalscosts by more than 90 percent.Kentaro Kato, a senior official in the company's sales department, saidcutting costs was the primary aim of the development project, whichbegan about five years ago."We focused on how we could cut costs, because we had heard that highplatinum prices were giving manufacturers a really hard time," Katosaid in an interview.After testing several metals, Mitsui Mining decided that silver showedthe most promise, being much cheaper and yet having comparable abilityto remove soot from diesel exhausts."At a rough calculation, sales cost will probably be reduced by about 50 percent," Kato said.He said the company plans to begin commercial production of the newcatalyst in time for application in diesel engines for constructionmachinery and other industrial equipment that will need to meetstricter emission standards from 2012.
The new standards will beintroduced in Japan, North America and Europe.Tighter diesel emissions standards have already been introduced for trucks, buses and passenger vehicles.Mitsui Mining will aim for first-year sales of 9 billion yen ($87 million).The new technology to make a silver-based catalyst will be used for diesel particulate filters (DPFs).It hopes to sell DPFs in a set with oxidation catalysts, which will continue to be platinum-based.It estimates the domestic market for DPFs and oxidation catalysts at about 50 billion yen.Kato said the company plans to supply the new catalysts to Japaneseengine manufacturers, and is currently in talks with several topcompanies, although he declined to elaborate.The company plans to invest in a new production line, but the cost would depend on talks with engine makers, he said.He could not say how much silver would be needed for each catalyst as it depended on each model,which would be designed for each type of engine. "It's not possible to generalise."
RECORD-HIGH PLATINUMDevelopment of the new catalyst could have wide implications for theauto industry, which is struggling under additional cost pressures dueto higher metals prices not only for platinum but also other metalssuch as steel and aluminium.The major industrial use of platinum, which is also used in jewellery, is in catalysts, particularly for diesel vehicles.Platinum's cheaper sister metal palladium is also used to filter outcarbon monoxide and particulate emissions, and is particularlyeffective as a catalyst for gasoline engines.Johnson Matthey, the world's top platinum refiner and distributor, saidin report issued in mid-May that the metal could spike to a record highof $2,500 an ounce this year.Platinum has already jumped 50 percent from the beginning of the year to hit a record high of $2,290 on March4.Silver is currently trading at around $18.20 per ounce.Mitsui Mining, which has received numerous queries from overseas, isalso considering the possibility of supplying the new catalysts toforeign firms."The response to the news has been quite overwhelming ... and much more than I anticipated," Kato said