About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2027 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Rare Metal Extraction & Processing
|
| Presentation Title |
Process Development for Gallium Recovery from a Domestic Rare-Earth Processing Raffinate |
| Author(s) |
Xinbo Yang, Aiden Worthley, Hailey Paine, Alind Chandra, Ben Kronholm |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Xinbo Yang |
| Abstract Scope |
Gallium (Ga) is an important material for semiconductors, power electronics, and other advanced technologies. Because Ga is commonly produced as a byproduct of processing other metal-bearing resources, many potential domestic sources contain only low concentrations of Ga and require integrated upgrading and purification. This study presents a hydrometallurgical process-development approach for Ga recovery from a domestic critical materials process raffinate. The raffinate contained ppm-level Ga together with much higher concentrations of Al, Fe, and other competing elements. Selective precipitation was used to transfer Ga from the dilute acidic liquor into an aluminum-rich solid phase, followed by controlled redissolution and reprecipitation to reduce the impurity load of the Ga-bearing intermediate. The resulting solution was further treated with commercial Amberlite™ IRA743 chelating resin to improve the separation of Ga from Al. Under representative conditions, a separation factor favoring Ga over Al of up to approximately 1620 was achieved. These results support the development of an ion-exchange-based gallium recovery flowsheet for low-grade industrial process streams. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Extraction and Processing, Hydrometallurgy, Process Technology |