Goldsmiths had extreme difficulty processing platinum due to its toughness and high melting point of 1770 degrees Celsius.

After a series of experiments, he first succeeded in melting platinum in large volumes and producing pure metal in 1856, using an oxyhydrogen blowpipe he developed himself.

With his gas blowpipe, Heraeus could produce enough oxyhydrogen and a large enough flame front to melt several kilograms of platinum-containing materials.

[12] Research and development was further pursued, and the physicist and chemist Richard Küch, a former school friend of the Heraeus brothers, joined the company in 1890.

As the company continued to expand, it needed new premises – so in 1896, the W.C. Heraeus Platinum Smelting Factory was established just outside Hanau, employing 40 people.

As it is also highly resistant to acids and heat, platinum was also used to make instruments such as scientific tools, crucibles, and vessels used in chemistry and physics.

[18] Due to the First World War, hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic and the collapse of the precious metal market in Russia, prices for platinum were subject to extreme fluctuations.

[19] Heraeus therefore focused its research activities on recycling techniques, and at the same time tried to find suitable materials to replace the precious metals.

Production shifted to electrical contacts with low densities of precious metals, catalysts, and rhodium reflectors for armament-related goods such as catalytic converters for anti-aircraft searchlights.

Heraeus had the company's role in the Third Reich investigated in an independent scientific study at the end of the 1990s and joined the fund of the German business Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future for the compensation of forced laborers.

The company re-established its network of contacts after the Second World War, allowing it to gain new customers in the American market for quartz glass for optical applications.

[23] Fun facts: Heraeus supplied the space-stable quartz glass for the still functional laser reflector for the exact determination of the distance between Earth and the Moon, which the Apollo 11 mission left behind on the lunar surface.

[27] In the same year, the company established a factory for the production of synthetic quartz glass for the manufacture of optical fibers in the chemical park in Bitterfeld-Wolfen (Saxony-Anhalt) after German reunification.

[31][32] At the same time, Heraeus intensified its involvement in industrial precious metals by expanding its activities in the field of thin film materials.

[35][36][37] In October 2018, Heraeus extended its sales channels in Germany by opening the online platform Heraeus-Gold.de in co-operation with the precious metals trader Ophirum GmbH.

The platform allows retail customers to buy Heraeus precious metal bars and a variety of popular coins.

[40] Also in 2022, Heraeus founded a joint venture with BASF, with equal shares, to recover precious metals from spent automotive catalysts.

[36] A main business unit of the Heraeus Group is the production and processing of precious metals (e.g. platinum, gold, silver).

The metals are processed, among other things, into wires or substrates for components in the automotive or electrical industries, or used in sensors that measure, for example, the sulfur content or temperature in the production of steel.

[49][50] Heraeus also produces special light sources in the UV and infrared range; both for industrial use, such as for hardening printing inks and plastics, and for disinfecting drinking water.

[51] In the medical sector, Heraeus produces components such as bone cement and coatings for implants, as well as High Potency API.