Abstract
The recovery of gallium (Ga) from gallium arsenide (GaAs) scrap using a leaching-ion exchange method was investigated. The ground GaAs scrap was leached, using 2.0 N nitric acid at 30 °C for 1.0 h, and the dissolution of Ga and arsenic (As) reached 98%. The pregnant solution with a 1/20 dilution ratio was then passed through a weak acid chelating resin Diaion CR-11. Highly charged Ga3+ has the ability to form complexes with the chelating resin and separate from the coexisting H3AsO4 in the leachate with very low pH. The loaded column was eluted with 0.1 M H2SO4, and the final concentrated solution had 4.5 g/L of Ga with 99.3% purity. The effluent from the column was further processed to remove As by ferric arsenicate precipitation, and reused continuously as the dilution water for raw leachate.
Highlights
In recent years, gallium (Ga) has attracted attention in the electronics industry, as gallium arsenide (GaAs) has better electronic properties than silicon-based semiconductor materials [1]
A potential secondary source of Ga is GaAs scrap, which contains nearly 50% of the Ga wasted in the process of GaAs wafer production
More than 85% of GaAs scrap is wasted in the process of the GaAs wafer production and GaAs scrap is wasted without treatment in Taiwan
Summary
Gallium (Ga) has attracted attention in the electronics industry, as gallium arsenide (GaAs) has better electronic properties than silicon-based semiconductor materials [1]. The other sources of Ga are coal fly ash [6] and the recycling of materials from scrap processing and impure metals [7,8,9,10,11,12,13], with 40–50% of the Ga that is consumed annually derived from recycled sources. A potential secondary source of Ga is GaAs scrap, which contains nearly 50% of the Ga wasted in the process of GaAs wafer production. More than 85% of GaAs scrap is wasted in the process of the GaAs wafer production and GaAs scrap is wasted without treatment in Taiwan. It is highly desirable to recover and recycle the valuable Ga metal and remove the toxic arsenic (As) from the GaAs scrap. Chen et al [11] recovered Ga and As using a thermal treatment at
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