Highly selective separation of germanium from sulfuric solution using an anion exchange D201 × 7 resin with tartaric acid

Abstract

Germanium (Ge) exhibits excellent optical and electrical properties. Due to the low reserves of Ge and lack of independent mineral resources, zinc refinery residues have become an important source of Ge. In this work, a D201 × 7 resin has been employed in the selective separation of Ge from a sulfuric solution using tartaric acid as a complexing agent. In the sulfuric acid system, Ge(OH)4 was converted to an anionic complex [GeO2(OH)2C4H4O4]2− at a 1:1 tartaric acid to Ge molar ratio. The anion exchange D201 × 7 resin adsorbed the Ge tartrate anionic complex. The adsorption process exhibited pseudo-second-order kinetic behavior and adhered to the Langmuir isothermal adsorption model. The maximum adsorption capacity of D201 × 7 resin for Ge was 214 mg g−1. Selective Ge uptake and purification could proceed by column separation The results showed that enrichment factor was 74.7, and the desorption concentration of Ge was increased from 500 mg L−1 to 36.6 g L−1. The D201 × 7 resin exhibited high selectivity, excellent adsorption performance and good stability, making it a viable candidate in industrial applications.