Spent automotive catalyst (SAC) has attracted attention because of containing platinum group metals (PGMs) along with hazardous materials such as heavy metals and organic substances. In this work, a new process was proposed to recover platinum in SAC and simultaneously prepare glass-ceramics by co-treatment process with coal fly ash (CFA). The experimental results indicated that platinum can be highly recovered and that glass-ceramics can also be successfully prepared. The maximum platinum recovery was approximately 99% when the optimum CFA addition, iron collector addition, and CaO/SiO2 mass ratio were 30-50 wt%, 5 wt%, and 0.7-0.8, respectively, at 1550 degrees C for 60 min. Under these optimal conditions, the enrichment coefficient of platinum was approximately 4.2, and the platinum content in the obtained glassy slag was below 4 g/t. Meanwhile, the results of the leaching efficiency of heavy metals in glassy slag showed that the obtained glassy slag is a harmless residue. Moreover, an economic evaluation was also carried out by comparing other metal collection processes. Furthermore, the synthesis of glass-ceramics by a one-step heat-treatment process further confirmed that this proposed approach was an economical and promising method for recycling platinum from SAC and reutilizing of CFA.
