BASF Doubles Production Capacity at Cinderford, UK Plant

BASF has completed the installation and start-up of new high-performance milling and decanning equipment at its Cinderford, Gloucestershire, UK, precious metal recycling operation, more than doubling the plant’s production capacity.

The Cinderford operation serves as BASF’s European production hub for processing end-of-life autocatalysts, allowing for the efficient recovery and recycling of platinum group metals (PGMs) such as platinum, palladium and rhodium.

“By enhancing our operating infrastructure, we have significantly increased production throughput at the Cinderford site and improved our ability to provide customers with faster turnaround times on their metal returns, enabling improved cash flows,” said David Freidinger, BASF Vice President, Precious Metals Recycling & Refining. “In addition, our investment in next-generation milling and shearing equipment will allow us to keep pace with the increased volume of scrap autocatalysts that will come to market in the years ahead.”

Automotive catalytic converters are one of the largest users of PGMs, accounting for more than half of the world’s annual mining output. When an automobile is scrapped, the precious metal contained in the catalytic converter can be recycled, creating a sustainable secondary supply source for such limited global resources.