Turning Waste to Treasure at OPSC

After working for nearly a year, OPSC finally concluded the used palladium on carbon (Pd/C) catalyst recycling project. The project reduced nearly NT$4.3 million worth of inventory, turned waste into treasure and brought in NT$260 million in revenue. OPSC staff have worked tirelessly with dedication and focus during the process. Kueiyen Enterprise Co., Ltd. from Yunnan Province, OPSC’s partner in this endeavor, even joked that the company no longer wishes for future collaborations.

The recycling of Pd/C involves unique and complex procedures. In the past, finding a supplier capable of recycling and processing Pd/C had been challenging. The recycling and processing were therefore handled separately by Sabin Metal Corporation in the U.S. and Chimet, respectively. OPSC worked to locate a domestic company capable of handling Pd/C and palladium trading to sell the metal after recycling. After rounds of discussions and reviews, Kueiyen Enterprise Co., Ltd. was chosen to take on the task.

Due to the scale of the procurement, Plant Affairs Section led a team of staff to supervise the entire process, including transport, pre-processing, bowl milling, soluble acid treatment, weighing and sampling, which are all critical links during the palladium recovery process. OPSC staff learned from Kueiyen Enterprise Co., Ltd. while applying their strengths at opportune moments. They demonstrated strong team spirits. After two batches of recycling, a total of 11,562g of palladium was recovered, exceeding the expectation by 15%.

While onsite supervision over the entire operation has helped ensure a high recycling rate, trading palladium at good selling points was the final touch. As advised by Finance Department from the headquarters in Taipei, the palladium was to be sold in separate trading at ideal price ranges. Kueiyen Enterprise Co., Ltd.  agreed to set the price for 70% of the palladium. Vice plant manager Chun-Hui Liu and senior vice president Chuan-Gui Sun monitored the palladium trading and market news daily. When the price hit or exceeded the selling price range, a sell order was issued to Kueiyen Enterprise Co., Ltd. on the next business day. On the second business day upon receiving the sell order, the palladium is to be sold on the London Metal Exchange (LME) at the closing price. Though metal trading is completely foreign to Mr. Liu and Mr. Sun, they dealt masterfully, trading the palladium at ideal price ranges and bringing in high returns for the plant.