About
Robert Karas and the mission behind Rowow
Rowow LLC is a small Florida lab run by its founder. It developed a fully electrochemical, closed-loop process for recovering precious metals, rare earths and critical minerals, and opened the core of it so the wider field can build on it.
The industry gaps we’re solving
Pollution
Most conventional processes generate significant toxic waste streams. Our system is designed to run closed loop, with the goal of no toxic waste outputs: the acid regenerates in the cell and the final solids are neutralized in the same system.
PGM blind spot
Most refining focuses only on gold and silver, missing substantial value. We handle the full platinum group metals spectrum.
No domestic industry
In the U.S., getting PGMs refined often means costly overseas shipments. We’re building the domestic infrastructure.
Our story
The idea began when Robert was asked by a friend to process a high-grade gold ore. Like many first-time refiners, he started with acid leaching using aqua regia, learning mostly through trial, error, and plenty of mistakes.
The breakthrough came when he replaced chemical precipitation with electrolysis. One key upgrade: replacing nitric acid with sodium chlorate, a stronger oxidizer capable of dissolving rhodium, iridium, and other platinum group metals, while being far more sustainable because it can be produced from salt.
“Seeing both the technical advantages and the scale of the problem, I realized this technology could have far greater impact than I could ever achieve alone. That’s why our intention is to open-source our work.”
Robert Karas, Founder
Our open-source mission
We believe breakthrough technology only reaches its full potential when it’s accessible to everyone. We share designs, results, and setbacks transparently.
The membrane files, the materials list and the bench videos are on the Open source page →
Speed up the research
Donations fund equipment, materials, testing and open documentation.