Computational modeling of platinum recovery. The increased value
of platinum has led to intensified efforts to recover this
precious metal from effluent streams. The streams usually
contain large amounts of other metals that are not wanted (such
as iron) and one therefore needs to selectively recover the
platinum. Although a lot of progress has been made
experimentally, where amine-substituted activated carbon (AC) is
used to recover the platinum, little is known about the
molecular-level mechanism of the adsorption of platinum onto the
functionalised AC. Increased knowledge at the molecular level
will hopefully assist in identifying new methods for selective
adsorption, as well as improving existing methods. In these
studies we model the AC carbon by attaching oxy-functional
groups on graphitic structures (oxygen containing functional
groups are known to exist on the AC). The interaction between
the amine groups and the functionalise AC is then studied, to
ascertain which functional groups are most likely to