CA1309869C - Method for production of gallium - Google Patents

Method for production of gallium

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Publication number
CA1309869C
CA1309869C CA 523662 CA523662A CA1309869C CA 1309869 C CA1309869 C CA 1309869C CA 523662 CA523662 CA 523662 CA 523662 A CA523662 A CA 523662A CA 1309869 C CA1309869 C CA 1309869C
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
gallium
solution
dust
hydrochloric acid
organic phase
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
CA 523662
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Gunnar H. Boe
Svein E. Engdal
Roald Gundersen
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Elkem ASA
Original Assignee
Elkem ASA
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Elkem ASA filed Critical Elkem ASA
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA1309869C publication Critical patent/CA1309869C/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • CCHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C22METALLURGY; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS
    • C22BPRODUCTION AND REFINING OF METALS; PRETREATMENT OF RAW MATERIALS
    • C22B58/00Obtaining gallium or indium
    • CCHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C01INORGANIC CHEMISTRY
    • C01GCOMPOUNDS CONTAINING METALS NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C01D OR C01F
    • C01G15/00Compounds of gallium, indium or thallium
    • C01G15/003Preparation involving a liquid-liquid extraction, an adsorption or an ion-exchange
    • CCHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C22METALLURGY; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS
    • C22BPRODUCTION AND REFINING OF METALS; PRETREATMENT OF RAW MATERIALS
    • C22B3/00Extraction of metal compounds from ores or concentrates by wet processes
    • C22B3/20Treatment or purification of solutions, e.g. obtained by leaching
    • C22B3/26Treatment or purification of solutions, e.g. obtained by leaching by liquid-liquid extraction using organic compounds
    • C22B3/38Treatment or purification of solutions, e.g. obtained by leaching by liquid-liquid extraction using organic compounds containing phosphorus
    • C22B3/384Pentavalent phosphorus oxyacids, esters thereof
    • C22B3/3846Phosphoric acid, e.g. (O)P(OH)3
    • CCHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C22METALLURGY; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS
    • C22BPRODUCTION AND REFINING OF METALS; PRETREATMENT OF RAW MATERIALS
    • C22B7/00Working up raw materials other than ores, e.g. scrap, to produce non-ferrous metals and compounds thereof; Methods of a general interest or applied to the winning of more than two metals
    • C22B7/02Working-up flue dust
    • YGENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02PCLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS
    • Y02P10/00Technologies related to metal processing
    • Y02P10/20Recycling

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  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Organic Chemistry (AREA)
  • Materials Engineering (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Metallurgy (AREA)
  • Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Environmental & Geological Engineering (AREA)
  • General Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Geology (AREA)
  • Inorganic Chemistry (AREA)
  • Geochemistry & Mineralogy (AREA)
  • Manufacture And Refinement Of Metals (AREA)

Abstract

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a method for selective extraction of gallium from dust which is recovered from gas collecting systems in plants for electrolytic production of aluminium.

The dust is leached in an aqueous hydrochloric acid solution at a temperature between 50° and 120°C whereby gallium is leached as gallium chloride. Gallium chloride is thereafter selectively extracted from the leach solution by an organic phase consisting of undiluted tri-n-butyl-phosphate, whereafter gallium is stripped from the organic phase by water or an alkaline solution of NaOH with a consentration of 0.1 to 3 M, preferably 1 - 2 M.

Description

The present invention relates to a method for producing gallium from a dust recovered in gas collecting systems in plants for electrolytic production of aluminium from a mixture of bauxite and cryolite.

The main constituents of this dust are carbon and oxides of aluminium, sodium and iron. The dust normally contains about 0.2 to about 0.5 ~ by weight of gallium.

. .
It is known to recover gallium from the above-identified dust by mixing the dust with an excess of a carbonate of an alkalimetal or a hydroxide of an alkali metal, treating this mixture at elevated temperature in an oxidizing atmosphere, whereafter the treated product is leached in an aqueous solution to dissolve gallium. Thereafter gallium is extracted from the leach solution for example by liquid-liquid extraction. The gallium recovery is, however, low and normally below 70%.

It is further known that clay (aluminium silicate) containing small amounts of gallium can be treated with hydrochloric acid in order to ieach the gallium and that gallium can be extracted from the pregnant leach solution by liquid-liquid extraction using an`amine-compound as ex~ractant. Gallium is then stripped from the organic phase by a strip solution containing hydrochloric acid, whereby a GaC13 solution is obtained. The aluminium silicate material is, however, very different from dust recovered in gas collecting systems in plants for electrolytic production of aluminium.

- .

.

`` ~ 2 ~inally, it is known that gallium can be extracted from discarded solutions from germanium production by using diluted tri-n-butyl-phosphate (TBP) as organic extractant.
These kind of solutions are mixtures of sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid and it is1necessary to use an organic extractant comprising 10% TBP dissolved in an aliphatic thinner in order to obtain selective extraction of qallium.
This implies that great amounts of organic solution has to be used.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple and low cost method for producing gallium wherein high purity gallium can be recovered from dust recovered from gas collecting systems in plants for electrolytic production of aluminium.

:
Accordingly, the present invention relates to a method for selective extraction of gallium from dust collected in gas collecting systems in plants for electrolytic production of aluminium, wherein the dust is leached in an aqueous hydrochloric acid solution and the leaching temperature of the hydrochloric acid solution is kept between 50 and 120C, whereby galllum is dissolved as gallium chloride, wherea~ter ferric iron in the pregnant leach solution is reduced to ferro iron by addition of a reducing agent, whereafter gallium chloride is selectively extracted from the pregnant leach solution by an organi~ phase consisting of undiluted tri-n-butyl phosphate, and gallium is stripped ~rom the organic phase by water or an alkaline solution of NaOH with a ~ concentration of NaOH between 0.1 and 3~.
:: ~ : : : : : :
The dust is preferably leached by a hydrochloric acid solution with an acidity of 3 to 8 M and at a temperature 4..~i ~ : ~
:: :
.,., .............................. : ~- ' : , , :: ~

, of 95 to 105C. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention any ferric iron which is dissolved together with gallium, is reduced to ferro iron by addition of a reducing agent, preferabIy iron powder, before the pregnant leach solution is contacted by the organic extraction phase.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the dust is treated in an oxidizing atmosphere at a temperature of 500 - lOOO~C before the leaching step. By this treatment carbon, fluorides and tar are removed from the dust, whereby the weight of the dust is reduced by about 50%.

By the method according to the present invention a high leachinq yield of gallium of above 80 % is achieved and gallium is selectively extracted by means of undiluted TBP.
Use of undiluted TBP gives a substantial reduction of the volume of the organic extraction phase compared to the known method wherein an organic phase comprising 10% TBP
diluted in an aliphatic thinner is used.

The present invention will now be further described in connection wi~h the following exampl~s.

Example 1 :
200 g dust collected from a gas collecting system in a plant for electrolytic production of aluminium was leached by 1000 ml 6M hydrochloric acid solution. The leaching temperature was IOO~C.

' ' .. '.

.

: j 4 The chemical analysis of the dust was as follows:

Carbon 33 ~ by weigth Fluorine 17 ~ "
Oxygen 17 - Aluminium 13 ~ "
Sodium 9 4 Iron 6 % "
Sulfur 3 ~ "
Calcium 1.5 % "
Gallium 0,47 ~ ~
.
The chemical analysis of the pregnant leach solution was as follows:
' Gallium 0.8 g/l Iron 13.4 "
Aluminium 25.0 "
Sodium 17.4 "
Fluorine 29.4 "
Chlorine 212 "

The leaching yield for gallium was thus 85 %.

Iron powder was added to the pregnant leach solution in order to reduce ferric iron to ferro iron. The content of iron in the leach solution was thereby increased to 18.4 ~/1 .

Thereafter the pregnant leach solution was contacted by undiluted tri-n-butyl phosphate at a~volume ratio of ~ ' ~
:
- ' : - ~ . ' : . `, ~
, .
. .

.- aqueous phase to organic phase of 5/1 whereby gallium was extracted to the organic phase. The content of gallium in the leach solution was thereby reduced from 0.8 ~/1 to less than 0.02 g/l. This means that more than 97.5 % of gallium in the leach solution ~as extracted by contact with the - undiluted TBP.

- Gallium was now stripped from the organic phase by contacting the organic phase by water with pH 7 in two steps. The volume ratio water/organic was 1:1. The resultant aqueous solution containing gallium was thereafter again contacted by TBP with a volume ratio water/organic of 5/1. Gallium was thereafter stripped by contacting the organic phase with water in the same way as described above.

The final strip solution has the following analysis:

. Gallium5 g/l Iron< 0~05 g/l - Aluminium< 0.05 g/l Sodium0.054 g/l Fluorine0.026 g/l While the ratio of Ga/Fe in the pregnant leach solution was 0.06, the ratio of Ga/Fe in the final strip solution was greater than 100.

-, : ' ,,,, ' .' `
- - - .. . . " .

.
. , - . - , . , - ` ~ 3 ~

Example 2 In a pilot plant for continuous production of gallium from dust recovered from a gas collecting system in plants for electrolytic production of aluminium, 12 kg of dust was leached per hour in 30 liter/hour of 6M HCl. The leaching temperature was kept at 100C.

The pregnant leach solution has the following average analysis:

Gallium 1.1 g/l Aluminium 35 g/l Iron 20 g/l Sodium 25 g/l Fluorine 50 g/l Chlorine 212 g/l Ferric iron in the pregnant leach solution was reduced to ferro iron by addition of elemental iron. The average iron content in the leach solution thereby increased to 40 g/l.

The pregnant leach solution wa~ thereafter contacted by undiluted tri-n-butyl~phosphate in a mixer/settling apparatus. The volume ratio of leach solution to TBP was re~ulated to 5jl. Gallium was thereby extracted to the organic phase. The content of gallium in the leach solution was thereby reduced to below 0.02 g/l. This means that more than 98,1 ~ of the gallium content was extracted into the organic phase. 1/4 of the organic phase was continuously bleeded out for stripping of the ~allium content.
' `

.
':

i, ~

:

~ :~ ' 1 3 ~

;,'?' _ _ The organic phase was returned to the extraction step after stripping.

Gallium was stripped from the organic phase by contacting the organic phase with water in a volume ratio organi~c, phase/water of 1~

After having operated the pilot plant until equilibrium was reached the average content of the strip solution was:

Gallium 15 g/l Iron 0.05 g/l Aluminium 0.003 g/l :~
Fluorine 0.25 g/l Chlorine 40 g/l While the ratio of Ga/Fe in the pregnant leach solution was 0.06 the same ratio in the strip solution was 300. This shows that by the method of the present invention a very selective extraction Or gallium is obtained.

:

' ' ` - ~ ' .' ` '` :'` '' ' ' '` ' '' `' ' ;~ ~

Claims (5)

1. A method for selective extraction of gallium from dust recovered from gas collecting systems in plants for electrolytic production of aluminium characterized in that the dust is leached in an aqueous hydrochloric acid solution and that the leaching temperature of the hydrochloric acid solution is kept between 50 and 120°C, whereby gallium is dissolved as gallium chloride, whereafter ferric iron in the pregnant leach solution is reduced to ferro iron by addition of a reducing agent, whereafter gallium chloride is selectively extracted from the pregnant leach solution by an organic phase consisting of undiluted tri-n-butyl phosphate, and that gallium is stripped from the organic phase by water or an alkaline solution of NaOH with a concentration of NaOH
between 0.1 and 3M.
2. A method according to claim 1 characterized in that the aqueous hydrochloric acid solution has an acidity between 3 and 8M.
3. A method according to claim 1 characterized in that the temperature of the aqueous hydrochloric acid solution is between 95 and 105°C.
4. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the dust is treated in an oxidizing atmosphere at a temperature between 500 and 1000°C before the leaching step.
5. A method according to claim 1 characterized in that the concentration of the NaOH solution is between 1 and 2M.
CA 523662 1985-12-16 1986-11-24 Method for production of gallium Expired - Lifetime CA1309869C (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
NO854797A NO158028C (en) 1985-12-16 1985-12-16 GALLIUM EXTRACTION.
NO854,797 1985-12-16

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA1309869C true CA1309869C (en) 1992-11-10

Family

ID=19888611

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA 523662 Expired - Lifetime CA1309869C (en) 1985-12-16 1986-11-24 Method for production of gallium

Country Status (11)

Country Link
JP (1) JPS62156238A (en)
AU (1) AU572412B2 (en)
BR (1) BR8606230A (en)
CA (1) CA1309869C (en)
DE (1) DE3640381A1 (en)
ES (1) ES2002227A6 (en)
FR (1) FR2591582B1 (en)
GB (1) GB2184108B (en)
NL (1) NL8602997A (en)
NO (1) NO158028C (en)
NZ (1) NZ218419A (en)

Families Citing this family (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2624524B1 (en) * 1987-11-24 1990-05-18 Metaleurop Sa METHOD FOR HYDROMETALLURGICAL TREATMENT OF GALLIFER MATERIAL SOLUTION
CN100396804C (en) * 2005-12-09 2008-06-25 韶关市华韦实业有限公司 Technology for extracting Gallium metal from lead-zine tail ore slug smelting by extracting-electrolytic method
CN103276407B (en) * 2013-05-13 2016-12-28 攀枝花学院 A kind of from low-grade containing gallium, ferrum raw material reclaim gallium and the method for ferrum
CN113667839B (en) * 2021-08-20 2022-06-28 安徽工业大学 Method for recovering metal gallium from gallium nitride waste under normal pressure

Family Cites Families (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2848398A (en) * 1955-05-11 1958-08-19 Zh Sekitan Sogo Kenkyujo Recovery of gallium compounds from the combustion gases of coal
GB991614A (en) * 1960-08-27 1965-05-12 Asahi Chemical Ind Process for recovering gallium in the purification of crude alumina
GB991613A (en) * 1960-11-28 1965-05-12 Asahi Chemical Ind Process for the recovery of gallium
DD127573A1 (en) * 1976-09-06 1977-10-05
FR2397464A2 (en) * 1977-07-13 1979-02-09 Rhone Poulenc Ind PROCESS FOR RECOVERING GALLIUM FROM VERY BASIC SOLUTIONS BY LIQUID / LIQUID EXTRACTION
FR2411894A1 (en) * 1977-12-15 1979-07-13 Rhone Poulenc Ind GALLIUM EXTRACTION PROCESS
FR2460276A1 (en) * 1979-07-03 1981-01-23 Rhone Poulenc Ind PROCESS FOR TREATING RARE EARTH OXIDES AND GALLIUM MIXTURES
FI70693C (en) * 1980-12-05 1986-10-06 Rhone Poulenc Ind FOERFARANDE FOER RENING AV EN GALLIUMLOESNING
JPS6058170B2 (en) * 1982-12-17 1985-12-18 三井アルミニウム工業株式会社 Method for recovering gallium from dust generated in an aluminum electrolytic furnace
JPS60166224A (en) * 1984-02-03 1985-08-29 Mitsui Alum Kogyo Kk Method of recovery of gallium from dust of aluminum smelting

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
BR8606230A (en) 1987-09-29
JPS642654B2 (en) 1989-01-18
AU572412B2 (en) 1988-05-05
FR2591582A1 (en) 1987-06-19
NO158028C (en) 1988-06-29
GB8629961D0 (en) 1987-01-28
NO158028B (en) 1988-03-21
NL8602997A (en) 1987-07-16
GB2184108B (en) 1989-10-18
NZ218419A (en) 1989-04-26
DE3640381A1 (en) 1987-06-04
FR2591582B1 (en) 1988-07-01
AU6658886A (en) 1987-06-25
NO854797L (en) 1987-06-01
GB2184108A (en) 1987-06-17
JPS62156238A (en) 1987-07-11
ES2002227A6 (en) 1988-07-16

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