Platinum group metals, a family of six rare elements that includes platinum, palladium and rhodium, are playing an increasingly strategic role in the U.S. economy as demand grows from automakers, refiners, electronics manufacturers and emerging hydrogen technologies.
The metals - platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium - are prized for their resistance to heat and corrosion. But their greatest industrial value lies in their role as catalysts, where they help accelerate chemical reactions essential to pollution control, fuel production, fertilizer manufacturing and clean energy systems.
That catalytic performance stems from the metals’ electronic structure, which allows them to bind with molecules strongly enough to trigger reactions, but not so strongly that the process stalls. Scientists describe this balance through the “d-band center” model and the Sabatier Principle, both of which help explain why platinum group metals, or PGMs, often outperform other materials in commercial catalysts. For the United States, the importance of PGMs goes beyond chemistry. The country relies heavily on metals for advanced manufacturing and emissions compliance, but has little domestic supply. Global production is concentrated mainly in South Africa, Russia and Zimbabwe, leaving U.S. industry exposed to geopolitical disruptions, labor unrest and price volatility.
According to U.S. Geological Survey data, the United States in 2024 imported an estimated 69,000 kilograms of palladium, 72,000 kilograms of platinum and 15,000 kilograms of rhodium, while domestic mine production totaled just 8,000 kilograms of palladium and 2,000 kilograms of platinum. That imbalance has elevated PGMs to the status of critical materials for economic resilience and national security.
The largest single use of PGMs is in automotive catalytic converters, which reduce harmful tailpipe emissions. Modern gasoline vehicles use converters containing palladium, rhodium and sometimes platinum to transform carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides into less harmful gases. Rhodium is especially important because it is highly effective at breaking down nitrogen oxides, or NOx, into nitrogen. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says modern vehicles are about 99% cleaner in criteria tailpipe pollutants than vehicles built before emissions rules began taking effect in 1970. From 1970 to 2024, while U.S. gross domestic product rose 338%, population increased 66%, energy consumption climbed 43%, and vehicle miles traveled jumped 195%, combined emissions of six principal air pollutants fell by 79%, according to EPA data. PGM-based catalysts have been central to that decline, with applications extending beyond passenger vehicles to heavy-duty engines and stationary industrial sources.
Outside transportation, PGMs are deeply embedded in industrial supply chains. Platinum and palladium are used in petroleum refining to upgrade fuels. Platinum-rhodium catalysts are essential in nitric acid production, a key step in fertilizer manufacturing. Palladium is also used in chemicals and plastics feedstocks, while ruthenium and platinum play roles in electronics and data storage.
In medicine, platinum and palladium are used in implants, guidewires and some pharmaceuticals because of their conductivity, corrosion resistance and biocompatibility. Each of the six metals has specialized uses. Platinum is widely used in fuel cells and diesel catalysts; palladium dominates gasoline catalytic converters and hydrogen-related chemistry; rhodium remains critical for NOx reduction; iridium is essential in proton exchange membrane electrolyzers for green hydrogen; ruthenium is used in electronics and synthesis; and osmium remains limited to niche scientific and wear-resistant applications.
As countries pursue lower-carbon energy systems, PGMs are finding new uses in hydrogen technologies. Platinum is a core catalyst in proton exchange membrane fuel cells, while iridium oxide is one of the few materials able to withstand the harsh conditions inside proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers used to produce green hydrogen. That shift is giving PGMs a new strategic role. Metals, once used mainly to reduce pollution from fossil fuels, are now becoming critical to clean energy infrastructure. Analysts say this could help sustain demand even as battery-electric vehicles gradually erode long-term consumption in conventional autocatalysts.
The concentration of global PGM production has made supply chains vulnerable. South Africa dominates platinum output, while Russia remains a key palladium producer. Disruptions ranging from sanctions to power shortages can quickly affect global availability and prices. Recent market swings have also underscored the sector’s fragility. During 2023 and 2024, rhodium prices fell by about 31%, palladium by 27%, and ruthenium by 6%, reducing the value of Montana PGM output from roughly $541 million in 2023 to about $310 million in 2024 and contributing to layoffs and restructuring at Sibanye-Stillwater. Even so, demand from North American automakers remained relatively firm as tighter emissions standards increased catalyst loadings per vehicle.
Because primary mining is costly and geographically concentrated, recycling has become a critical source of supply. Closed-loop recycling from industrial catalysts can recover more than 95% of the metal. Open-loop recycling, mainly from scrapped vehicle catalytic converters and electronic waste, has historically returned large volumes of palladium and platinum to the market.
Globally, recycled material has supplied about one-quarter of the demand for platinum and palladium. But that stream weakened between 2022 and 2024, when global autocatalyst scrap volumes fell nearly 30% from pre-pandemic levels. Semiconductor shortages, high vehicle prices, inflation, rising interest rates and lower PGM prices led consumers to keep cars longer and scrapyards to hold back material in hopes of better prices. Industry participants say those stockpiles could eventually return to the market once prices recover and vehicle replacement rates improve.
The environmental gap between mined and recycled PGMs is significant. Primary production, particularly from deep South African mines powered by coal-heavy electricity grids, is energy- and water-intensive and generates large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions and tailings. Recycled PGMs, by contrast, can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 95% to 97% and water use by roughly 99%, while avoiding the waste associated with mining, according to industry life-cycle assessments. That makes recycling increasingly important not only for supply security but also for the environmental case behind PGM-dependent technologies.
Despite the growth of electric vehicles, tighter emissions rules in the United States and Europe are expected to keep near-term demand for platinum, palladium and rhodium strong by increasing the amount of metal required per combustion-engine vehicle. At the same time, growing interest in hydrogen fuel cells and electrolyzers is shifting PGMs from pollution-control materials to core energy-transition metals. For the United States, that is likely to sharpen the focus on domestic recycling, refining capacity and advanced catalyst technologies that reduce metal use without sacrificing performance.
In the years ahead, PGMs are expected to remain essential to sectors ranging from auto manufacturing and refining to public health and low-carbon energy - small-volume metals with an outsized role in modern industry.