The Uses of Platinum
There are many uses of platinum, including in jewellery, the automotive industry, dental equipment, electronics, and bullion. Platinum is most frequently used as a catalyst, though. Catalysts are substances that quicken chemical reactions and lower the amount of energy required to change a substance.
Catalytic converters, specifically those found in automotive exhausts, come to mind when the word “catalyst” is mentioned nowadays. In the case of exhaust from vehicles, the metal converts carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide into nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide, which are less hazardous. emission reduction in the combustion combustion combustion combustion combustion combustion combustion in the combustion in the combustion combustion combustion combustion combustion combustion in the combustion in the combustion in the combustion in the combustion in the combustion combustion combustion combustion.
According to data from the World Platinum Investment Council, the automobile industry used more than 40% of the platinum that was produced in 2018. This was mostly used for exhaust systems. One of the platinum group metals, palladium, is now more frequently utilised in exhaust systems than platinum.
What is the purpose of platinum?
As was previously said, platinum is mostly utilised in catalytic converters for automobile exhaust, but jewellery was the next-largest individual consumer of the valuable metal, using almost 30% of it. It is the perfect metal for jewellery because of its pleasing weight, durability, and resistance to tarnishing in addition to its natural dazzling white colour. Its rarity as a metal and in its use also contributes to its appeal. In jewellery, the noble metal is typically blended with copper, palladium, rhodium, iridium, or titanium in a 90 to 95 percent alloy.
Other industries make up the second-largest consumers after the makers of jewellery and automobiles. Many of these sectors, including the chemical, petrochemical (fuel), and electrical ones, process materials using platinum’s catalytic abilities. It serves as a catalyst in the chemical industry for the manufacture of benzene, silicone, and nitric acid. In order to increase the effectiveness of fuel cells, it is also utilised as a catalyst.
Uses of Platinum in the Electronics Industry
The electronics industry uses platinum to make electrodes, electrical contacts for computer hard disks and thermocouples. It is also used to make optical fibres and LCDs, turbine blades and spark plugs, and in an alloy with cobalt it is used to produce strong, permanent magnets.
The healthcare industry exploits its hypo allergenic properties in pacemakers and dentistry. Plus platinum compounds are important chemotherapy drugs used to treat cancers.
Investing in Platinum
The amount of this precious metal used for platinum investments is less than 1%. Gold and silver are the preferred precious metals for most investors. It is traded on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange and the New York Mercantile Exchange. There isn’t a listing for it on the London Metal Exchange.
There are several very good reasons to consider investing in platinum. It can offer investors a safe haven investment and aid in portfolio diversification, just like other precious metals. Furthermore, platinum is far rarer than gold. Although there is a substantial and continuing industrial demand for platinum, the global supply is thought to be only one-tenth as great as that of gold.
Investors can purchase physical platinum metal in the form of bars and coins. Most refineries that generate gold and silver also create platinum bars. The dazzling white metal is treated similarly to silver for tax reasons in the UK, albeit legal tender coins are exempt from capital gains tax while platinum is subject to it.
Compared to gold and silver, the selection of coins is more limited, however it is expanding. The first and only platinum circulation coins were made in Russia in 1828. Due to its high melting point and 17-year shelf life, it was difficult to unlawfully melt down.
Coins that were once legal money are no longer produced; only bullion investments are. The American Eagle, Australian Koala, Canadian Maple, and Austrian Philharmonic are the most well-liked animals. Britannia, the Isle of Man Noble, and the Queen’s Beasts series are examples of British coins.
