Tetronics International has signed of a deal to provide its plasma arc technology to waste management firm Duncan Recycling & Refining (DR2) to recover precious metals from catalytic converters found in cars.

Tetronics’ plasma arc systems enable the recovery of valuable resources from materials including spent catalysts, electronics and mining ores. Tetronics will develop and deliver a plasma refining plant for DR2, based in Duncan, Oklahoma.

DR2’s president David Nichols made the decision to install Tetronics’ plasma arc technology at its plant in Oklahoma after seeing it in action it during a trip to Europe two years ago. The plant will use plasma to extract and refine the valuable platinum group metals and ceramics found in catalytic converters.

The plant will have the capacity to process 6 metric tons of catalytic converters a day, or about 2 million catalytic converters every year. Once recovered, the precious metals will then be sold so they can be reused in a variety of products and processes. The waste that isn’t valuable is then converted into an inert material called Plasmarok, which can be used as a building aggregate.

When it is fully operational in 2016, the DR2 plant will be one of 11 Tetronics precious metal recovery plants installed worldwide.