Platinum - Pt

Platinum — chemical properties and water context

Platinum is a dense, silvery, corrosion-resistant transition metal and a member of the platinum-group metals. Its water-treatment relevance is strongest in catalyst manufacture, electroplating, mining and precious-metal recovery streams.

Atomic number	78
Standard atomic weight	195.084 g/mol
Density	21.5 g/cm3
Melting point	1768.2 °C
Boiling point	3825 °C
Electron configuration	[Xe] 4f14 5d9 6s1

Chemical properties

Platinum is in Group 10 and Period 6. The metal is relatively unreactive under ordinary conditions, but platinum compounds can form soluble complexes, especially in chloride-bearing process solutions. Therefore, elemental platinum properties do not predict the behaviour of dissolved platinum in process water.

Uses and applications

Platinum is used in catalytic converters, chemical catalysts, laboratory equipment, electronics and jewellery. Spent catalysts and industrial liquors can contain recoverable platinum-group metals.

Platinum in water treatment

In platinum-bearing process water, determine dissolved and particulate platinum and characterize pH, chloride, oxidation state and co-occurring metals. Ion exchange is used or studied to recover platinum-group metals from specific leach and industrial solutions; resin selectivity depends on metal speciation and competing ions. Recovery and treatment performance should be tested on the actual stream.

Environmental and health context

Platinum is rare in natural waters, while industrial processing can create localized sources. Environmental assessment should consider the particular platinum compound, its concentration and exposure route rather than treating all platinum forms as equivalent.

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