How Much Platinum, Palladium and Rhodium Is in a Catalytic Converter: Grams in 13 Vehicle Types

A US gasoline car's catalytic converter system holds about 0.28 grams of platinum (Pt, element 78), 4.55 grams of palladium and 0.28 grams of rhodium, according to the US Department of Energy's estimate for the 2011 fleet. A 2011 US diesel system holds 7.53 grams of platinum. Across 13 vehicle types, the three metals total 2.2 to 17.3 grams, and every figure below names its basis.

Contained metal value, not a scrap offer. Prices: platinum and palladium spot, rhodium dealer quote; updated 5 Oct 2026, 15:35 UTC.

How Much Platinum Is in a Catalytic Converter?#

A catalytic converter system contains 0.14 to 13.3 grams of platinum across the 13 vehicle types in US DOE and WPIC data: 0.28 g in a 2011 US gasoline car and 7.53 g in a 2011 US diesel car. The US Department of Energy's Program Record #16006 (17 February 2016) puts the whole 2011 gasoline system at 5.12 grams of platinum, palladium and rhodium, and the diesel system at 10.14 grams.

Which figure fits one specific car? That depends on fuel, engine size, NOx system, region and model year; no carmaker publishes loadings by model. Catalytic converter scrap is settled on these grams, because a refiner pays only for the assayed metal in each lot of catalytic converter scrap.

Grams and Troy Ounces of Platinum, Palladium and Rhodium in 13 Vehicle Types#

The 13 vehicle types below contain 2.2 to 17.3 grams of platinum, palladium and rhodium in total, equal to 0.07 to 0.56 troy ounces. Rows 1 and 2 are DOE's 2011 fleet estimates for a whole US system, rows 3 to 10 DOE engineering loadings (Tables 7 and 9, from Sanchez et al., ICCT, 2012), and rows 11 to 13 WPIC estimates for 2010 model-year cars (Platinum Essentials, 20 August 2025).

Totals are the source's printed figures; row sums differ by up to 0.1 g through rounding. DOE's 2016 projections for 2025 (6.21 g gasoline, 8.51 g diesel) are projections, not observations, and are not rows. Troy ounces = grams ÷ 31.1034768. Prices updated 5 Oct 2026, 15:35 UTC (platinum, palladium) and 5 Oct 2026, 15:30 UTC (rhodium dealer quote).

One gram equals 0.0321507466 troy ounces, so the 17.30 grams in a 3.0-liter diesel with a lean NOx trap is 0.5562 troy ounces. Other troy ounce conversions run on the troy ounce converter.

Why a Gasoline Catalytic Converter Holds More Palladium Than Platinum#

Gasoline converters hold more palladium because palladium replaced platinum in gasoline three-way catalysts on price from the late 1990s, leaving a US gasoline system about 89% palladium by mass. DOE's 2011 gram figures give 88.9% palladium, 5.5% platinum and 5.5% rhodium for gasoline, against 74.3% platinum, 21.9% palladium and 3.8% rhodium for diesel. WPIC puts the average passenger-vehicle autocatalyst at around three times as much palladium as platinum.

How much do cars weigh on each metal? Automotive demand takes about 35% of annual platinum demand and over 80% of palladium and rhodium demand (WPIC, August 2025), the split behind autocatalyst demand for platinum and palladium.

Which Precious Metals Are in a Catalytic Converter?#

A catalytic converter contains three precious metals: platinum, palladium and rhodium; ruthenium, iridium and osmium are absent or negligible. Iridium appears in spark plug tips, not the catalyst, and ruthenium was dropped as a NOx catalyst in the 1970s because it forms volatile oxides in hot exhaust. Johnson Matthey's tables (May 2026) carry no secondary supply line for ruthenium or iridium. The six platinum group metals compare as follows.

What Platinum, Palladium and Rhodium Do in a Catalytic Converter#

Platinum and palladium oxidize carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons, and rhodium reduces nitrogen oxides (NOx), which no other metal does as well. The three pollutants of a gasoline three-way catalyst are listed below.

• Carbon monoxide (CO): oxidized to carbon dioxide on platinum or palladium.
• Hydrocarbons (HC): oxidized to carbon dioxide and water on platinum or palladium.
• Nitrogen oxides (NOx): reduced to nitrogen on rhodium, which breaks the N-O bond more readily (Open University, "The three-way catalytic converter").

The chemistry of PGMs in autocatalysts is set out under PGMs in autocatalysts.

Where the Platinum Is in a Catalytic Converter#

The platinum sits in the washcoat on the ceramic honeycomb inside the steel shell, as nanoparticles rather than a plated layer or visible metal. The washcoat is a layer of gamma-alumina and ceria-zirconia that spreads the particles over a large surface. The honeycomb, or monolith, is usually cordierite, 2MgO·2Al2O3·5SiO2 (Kuzuhara, Ota and Kasuya, Materials, 2021), or a metallic FeCrAl foil. The six layers of a converter are listed from outside in.

The whole unit weighs several kilograms, but its metal is loaded in grams per liter of catalyst volume. That makes the ceramic monolith, not the shell, the part a refiner pays for, as the catalytic converter ceramic monolith page details.

How Much Platinum Is in a Diesel Catalytic Converter?#

A US diesel light-duty vehicle holds about 7.53 grams of platinum in a 10.14-gram system (US DOE, 2011 fleet), about 74% of its platinum, palladium and rhodium. That is about 27 times the platinum of the 2011 gasoline system, with only 2.22 grams of palladium and 0.39 grams of rhodium. DOE's diesel figure assumes 80% of vehicles use selective catalytic reduction (SCR) for NOx and 20% a lean NOx trap (LNT), the device that separates one diesel from another.

DOC, DPF, Lean NOx Trap and SCR: PGM Loading per Liter#

Diesel exhaust uses four aftertreatment devices with different PGM loadings: the oxidation catalyst, the particulate filter, the lean NOx trap and SCR, which contains no PGM. DOE's loadings per liter of catalyst volume, and the grams they give on a 3.0-liter engine, are compared below.

An SCR-equipped 3.0-liter diesel therefore loses the lean NOx trap's 7.50 g of platinum and 1.88 g of rhodium, falling from 17.30 g to 7.93 g, and its rhodium falls to zero. DOE states that SCR devices "do not contain PGM" while lean NOx traps "rely on PGM". Particulate filters often use a silicon carbide substrate that costs more to process (WPIC), one reason diesel catalytic converter and DPF scrap value differs from gasoline.

Grams per Converter vs Grams per Tonne#

A diesel system can hold more grams of PGM but fewer grams per tonne than a gasoline converter, because its metal is spread across more ceramic. DOE sizes the catalyst on a 3.0-liter diesel at 11.7 liters, 6.0 liters of it particulate filter. Grams per tonne (g/t), equal to parts per million, is the unit refiners settle on after milling: NIST SRM 2557, a certified used auto catalyst, assays about 1,499 g/t, against 1 to 5 g/t in most PGM ores (Sinisalo and Lundström, Metals, 2018). The grade sets the payable after fixed costs, which is why a catalytic converter assay reports concentration, not grams per unit.

What Changes the Platinum Content of a Catalytic Converter?#

Platinum content depends on five factors: fuel, engine size, NOx system, region of manufacture and model year. The size of each effect is listed below.

• Fuel: 7.53 g of platinum in a 2011 US diesel system, 0.28 g in gasoline (DOE).
• Engine size: about 1.7 g of metal per liter of gasoline displacement.
• NOx system: a lean NOx trap adds 7.50 g platinum and 1.88 g rhodium on a 3.0-liter diesel; SCR adds none.
• Region: 5.8 g in North America, 5.4 g in Europe, 2.2 g in China (WPIC, 2010 model year).
• Model year: loadings rise with each emissions rule and fall with thrifting (WPIC).

Engine Size: About 1.7 Grams of PGM per Liter#

A gasoline three-way catalyst carries about 1.7 grams of PGM per liter of engine displacement (US Tier 2 Bin 5, DOE): 2.48 g on a 1.5 L engine, 4.95 g on a 3.0 L engine. Doubling the displacement doubles each metal: platinum from 0.14 g to 0.28 g, palladium from 2.20 g to 4.40 g and rhodium from 0.14 g to 0.28 g. These figures cover the whole vehicle system, not one canister. WPIC notes that larger vehicles sometimes carry two converters in series, so each canister on such a vehicle holds only part of the total.

Region: North America, Europe and China#

WPIC estimates 5.8 grams of PGM in a 2010 model-year North American vehicle, 5.4 grams in a European one and 2.2 grams in a Chinese one (Platinum Essentials, 20 August 2025). A European car carries 2.7 g of platinum, about double North America's 1.3 g, because Europe's fleet was diesel-heavy; a North American car carries more palladium (4.0 g) from its large-displacement gasoline fleet. China's 2010 vehicles, built to laxer China 3 and China 4 standards, hold about 38% of the North American total, making Chinese converter scrap the least rewarding to recycle.

Model Year: From 1975 Oxidation Converters to Euro 7#

US gasoline cars from model year 1975 carried oxidation-only converters with platinum and palladium and no rhodium. Rhodium entered with three-way converters in the late 1970s, first on the Volvo 240, and with US federal NOx control from model year 1981. The seven eras of converter content are summarized below.

Loadings rise and fall: WPIC describes vehicle loadings as cyclical, rising with new legislation and declining with thrifting.

For Euro 7, Johnson Matthey (PGM Market Report, May 2026) expects carmakers to return to thrifting once the rules are fully implemented, so the uplift is not permanent.

Hybrid, Truck and Aftermarket Catalytic Converters#

Hybrid converters carry more PGM than conventional ones because they run cooler, and aftermarket replacements carry far less than the original part. A hybrid's engine runs less often, so its catalyst needs more metal to reach working temperature and ages less in use (Wikipedia, "Catalytic converter"). Hybrids rank among the most valuable catalytic converters.

Metal recyclers paid $50 to $250 for a catalytic converter and up to $800 for a hybrid's, the National Insurance Crime Bureau reported on 10 May 2023. No source publishes grams by truck brand; the nearest basis is DOE's 3.0-liter rows, 4.95 g gasoline and 7.93 to 17.30 g diesel.

Original-equipment (OEM) converters must last the regulatory useful life, 120,000 miles or 11 years under US Tier 2 and 150,000 miles or 15 years under Tier 3 (40 CFR Part 86). RRCats, a converter buyer, says OEM units are usually worth 3 to 5 times more than aftermarket ones, whose grams are unpublished. Buyers read the stamp to identify an OEM or aftermarket catalytic converter before quoting.

Why Scrap Converters in 2026 Come From 2010 to 2014 Vehicles#

Converters reaching scrapyards in 2026 come from vehicles about 12 to 16 years old, WPIC's average age at scrapping, so they were built to 2010-2014 emissions rules. About half of all vehicles are scrapped between 10 and 20 years old (WPIC), so DOE's 2011 figures describe today's scrap better than new-car loadings do. WPIC's Platinum Quarterly Q1 2026 (18 May 2026) adds that the metal recovered per catalyst is lower than in previous years.

How Much Is the Platinum in a Catalytic Converter Worth?#

The platinum in a catalytic converter is worth its grams ÷ 31.1034768 × the platinum price per troy ounce, which is $15.40 for a 2011 US gasoline system at 5 Oct 2026, 15:35 UTC. The same rule applies to palladium and rhodium; the three results sum to the contained value column above.

At a hypothetical platinum price of 1,000 USD per troy ounce, the 0.28 g in a 2011 gasoline system (0.0090 oz t) is worth 9.00 USD, and the 7.53 g in a 2011 diesel system (0.2421 oz t) 242.10 USD. The live input is the platinum price today; rhodium enters at a dealer quote because it has no exchange price.

Palladium sets most of a gasoline converter's value, since its 4.55 g outweigh platinum and rhodium combined about 8 to 1. Contained value is a ceiling, before losses, charges and margins.

To estimate the metal in one converter, use the catalytic converter PGM value calculator.

Contained Metal Value vs Scrap Price#

A scrapyard is paid far less than the contained metal value: WPIC puts the break-even offer to a North American yard at $34 on 2024 average prices, against $250 of contained metal. Refiners pay aggregators 90% to 95% of contained value, and aggregators spend $90 to $200 per converter to collect, decan, crush and assay it (WPIC, Platinum Essentials, 20 August 2025). WPIC's model for a 2010 model-year converter follows.

The yard's offer is what remains after every other step; offers by converter are compared under catalytic converter scrap value by type.

That remainder carries the price swing. From 2021 to 2024, North American contained value fell 65%, from $719 to $250, while the break-even offer fell 92%, from $402 to $34.

How platinum scrap from jewelry and industry is valued is set out under scrap platinum price.

How Is Platinum Extracted From a Catalytic Converter?#

Platinum is extracted from catalytic converters in six industrial steps: collecting, decanning, milling and sampling, assaying, smelting and chemical refining. The steps, run by different businesses from scrapyard to refiner, are listed in order below.

1. Collect converters at scrapyards, where aggregators sort ceramic from metallic units.
2. Decan each converter, stripping the steel shell to free the ceramic substrate.
3. Mill the substrate to 20 mesh or finer, blend it and take a composite sample, keeping a sealed witness split.
4. Assay the sample: XRF gives a preliminary reading in 3 to 5 working days, ICP or fire assay the settlement grade (Ecotrade).
5. Smelt the powder, typically above 1,200 °C, to separate the metals from the ceramic.
6. Refine the metal chemically, separating platinum, palladium and rhodium by solvent extraction and precipitation into sponge or salts.

Refined converter platinum is identical to mined platinum. The costs of each catalytic converter recycling step are covered under catalytic converter recycling.

Why Platinum Is Not Extracted From a Single Converter at Home#

Platinum is not recovered from a single converter at home because one converter holds a few grams of metal in a unit weighing several kilograms, and refiners dissolve it with chlorine gas in hot hydrochloric acid. Refineries normally take lots of about 1 tonne; Ecotrade's own minimum is 500 kg.

Aqua regia, used at small scale, dissolves platinum and palladium but leaves rhodium in the residue, and soluble chloroplatinate salts are respiratory sensitizers with an OSHA exposure limit of 0.002 mg/m3 as platinum. Full separation needs at least eight distinct steps (Sinisalo and Lundström, Metals, 2018), which is why precious metal refining runs only at industrial scale.

How Much of the Platinum Is Recovered#

Refining recovers well over 95% of the platinum, palladium and rhodium in a spent autocatalyst, according to WPIC, yet only about 55-60% of the metal fitted to cars is ever recovered. The gap opens before the refinery. WPIC estimates that about 25% of scrapped vehicles are exported to regions without recycling plants, only 75% of scrapped vehicles still carry a catalyst, and loss in use removes about 5%. Decanning, smelting and refining lose a further 3-5%, while aftermarket replacements add about 15%, for a net reduction of 40-45%.

Selling, Pricing and Tracking Catalytic Converter Metals#

Converter owners use these grams to check quotes, codes, grades, assays and live metal prices before selling. A buyer's quote rests on assayed averages for one code rather than fleet figures. The sections below cover each step of trading scrap platinum group metals from a converter.

Get a Quote on a Scrap Catalytic Converter#

DailyPlatinum passes your converter details to vetted buyers for a quote, and each quote rests on the buyer's assay history for that code, since a code does not encode metal content. Ecotrade quotes toll-refining payables of 96-98% for platinum and palladium and 88-93% for rhodium, a $200-500 treatment charge per lot and a $5-25 refining charge per troy ounce. Offers are compared under where to sell a catalytic converter, catalytic converter buyers and recyclers and catalytic converter scrap prices.

Catalytic Converter Codes, Grades, Assays and Glossary#

Five references decode a converter before sale, listed below.

• Codes: stamped part numbers on the shell, heat shield or end cap; see catalytic converter codes.
• Grades: how buyers sort units by type and substrate; see catalytic converter grades.
• Assays: XRF screening and ICP or fire assay results in g/t; see catalytic converter assay.
• Theft: why stolen units track metal prices; see catalytic converter theft.
• Glossary: PGM loading, washcoat and thrifting.

Platinum, Palladium and Rhodium Recovered From Converters Each Year#

Converters returned 1,241,000 ounces of platinum in 2025 on WPIC/Metals Focus figures (Platinum Quarterly Q1 2026), and WPIC forecasts 1,365,000 ounces for 2026. Johnson Matthey counts 312,000 ounces of rhodium, all from autocatalysts, on its own basis below; the two series are never combined.

JM basis: Johnson Matthey, PGM Market Report, May 2026. Shares derived from JM primary plus secondary supply.

Rhodium depends most on converters, with automotive scrap as its only reported secondary source. The platinum side is set out under secondary platinum supply.

Platinum, Palladium and Rhodium Prices Today#

Platinum trades at $1,711.00, palladium at $1,165.00 and rhodium at $9,000.00 per troy ounce today (5 Oct 2026, 15:35 UTC; rhodium is a dealer quote, 5 Oct 2026, 15:30 UTC). Each metal has its own live page: platinum price today, palladium price today and rhodium price today.

Catalytic Converter Platinum FAQ#

Six questions from search results on platinum in catalytic converters are answered below.

How many ounces of platinum are in a catalytic converter?#

A catalytic converter holds about 0.009 troy ounces of platinum in a 2011 US gasoline car and 0.24 troy ounces in a 2011 US diesel car (US DOE). Counting all three metals, the 13 vehicle types range from 0.07 to 0.56 troy ounces, the top figure for a 3.0-liter diesel with a lean NOx trap.

Which car has the most rhodium in its catalytic converter?#

A diesel with a lean NOx trap carries the most rhodium in DOE's data, 1.88 grams on a 3.0 L engine; among gasoline cars, larger engines and hybrids carry more. No carmaker publishes rhodium grams by model. Buyers rank the most valuable catalytic converters on assay history, and rhodium scrap covers the metal's other sources.

Can you sell the platinum out of a catalytic converter?#

Buyers pay for the whole converter, not for extracted platinum, because refiners take lots of about one tonne (Ecotrade). The buyer pools whole units into a lot; where to sell a catalytic converter compares the options.

What is the most valuable metal in a catalytic converter?#

Rhodium is the most valuable metal per ounce, but palladium added the most dollars to a North American converter in WPIC's 2024-price model: $126 of $250, against $85 from rhodium and $39 from platinum. At 2021 average prices, rhodium led with $367 of $719.

Is the powder inside a catalytic converter platinum?#

No: the powder is crushed ceramic holding about 0.15% platinum, palladium and rhodium by mass in the NIST SRM 2557 reference material. That certified used auto catalyst assays 1,131 mg/kg platinum, 233.2 mg/kg palladium and 135.1 mg/kg rhodium; SRM 2557 is also richer in platinum than today's palladium-heavy scrap.

What are the symbols, atomic numbers and CAS numbers of platinum, palladium and rhodium?#

Platinum is Pt, atomic number 78, CAS 7440-06-4; palladium is Pd, 46, CAS 7440-05-3; rhodium is Rh, 45, CAS 7440-16-6. Element data is on platinum (Pt), palladium (Pd) and rhodium (Rh).