Journals →  Non-ferrous Metals →  2014 →  #1 →  Back

MAGNESIUM, TITANIUM, RARE METALS, SEMICONDUCTORS
ArticleName Extraction of gallium from alkaline solutions of alumina production
ArticleAuthor Rubinshteyn G. М., Pasechnik L. А., Yatsenko S. P., Pyagay I. N.
ArticleAuthorData

Institute of Solid State Chemistry of Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Ekaterinburg, Russia:

G. M. Rubinshteyn, Senior Researcher, phone: +7 (343) 374-53-14

L. A. Pasechnik, Senior Researcher

S. P. Yatsenko, Professor, Head of Laboratory

I. N. Pyagay, Senior Researcher

Abstract

This article shows the analysis of gallium production methods, together with a brief overview of existing gallium production and application. Rapidly progressing electronic industry is a main consumer of gallium compounds. In Russia this metal is produced at the Pikalevo Alumina Refinery. Production of gallium at Ural alumina plant was liquidated. In the world practice, there was applied the electrolysis on mercury cathode or cementation with sodium amalgam. However, nowadays this technology is not used in France and Hungary because of high toxicity of mercury. Cementation and electrocementation on aluminum gallama are widely applied for purified solutions. This method is used as initial technology at the plant in Pavlodar (Kazakhstan). Sorption concentration with subsequent cementation by aluminum gallama was applied at the plant in Nikolaev (Ukraine). The plants, where alkaline aluminate solutions are neutralized by treatment in exhausting furnace gases, use carbonizing concentration of gallium, followed by cementation on aluminum gallama. This work reports about the advantages of gallium concentration by electrochemical extraction with carrier on water-cooled solid cathodes from sodium-aluminate Bayer solutions. There was designed the construction of electrolyzer with unit capacity of 1,000 kg of gallium per year, using a rectifying installation with non-stationary pulse current. The stages of subsequent cementation finishing and refining of rough gallium via vacuum thermal treatment of final metal are described. The gallium process flowsheet and hardware scheme are presented. This technology has been tested for many years. It makes possible to produce 6N grade gallium and promotes the reduction of concentration of impurities in aluminate solutions.

The work was carried out with the support of the programs of Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences (projects No. 13-P-3-1016 (13-П-3-1016), No. 13-3-030-SG (13-3-030-СГ)).

keywords Gallium, elecrtochemical extraction, behavior of impurities, cementation, metal refinement
References

1. Byulleten inostrannoy kommercheskoy informatsii — Bulletin of foreign commercial information. 2012. No. 148 (1990). pp. 14–15.
2. Naumov A. V., Plekhanov S. I. Izvestiya vysshikh uchebnykh zavedeniy. Tsvetnaya metallurgiya — Russian Journal of Non-Ferrous Metals. 2011. No. 12. pp. 70–76.
3. Kiknadze G. I., Gavar V. V., Gambaryan V. G. et al. Doklad na IV soveshchanii po fizike i tekhnike issledovatelskikh reaktorov (Report of the IV meeting on physics and techniques of research reactors). Budapest, 1965. No. 3. pp. 30–31.

4. Novikov A. I., Yatsenko S. P. Sbornik nauchnykh trudov “Khimiya, tekhnologiya i promyshlennaya ekologiya neorganicheskikh materialov” (Collection of scientific proceedings “Chemistry, technology and industrial ecology of inorganic materials”). Perm : Publishing House of Perm University, 2003. Iss. 3. pp. 134–140.
5. Shalavina E. L., Romanov G. A., Evseev Yu. N. et al. Poluchenie galliya iz alyuminatnykh rastvorov (Obtaining of gallium from aluminate solutions). Alma-Ata : Nauka, 1990. 204 p.
6. Vodolazov L. I., Peganov V. A., Skorovarov D. I. Vserossiyskomu nauchno-issledovatelskomu institutu khimicheskoy tekhnologii — 50 let : yubileynyy sbornik trudov (The 50-th anniversary of All- Russian Scientific Research Institute of Chemical Technology. Anniversary collection of proceedings). Under the editorship of V. V. Shatalov. Moscow : Central Scientific Research Institute of Atomic Information, 2001. 448 p.
7. Ivanova R. V. Khimiya i tekhnologiya galliya (Chemistry and technology of gallium). Moscow : Metallurgiya, 1973. 392 p.
8. Yatsenko S. P., Pasechnik L. A., Sabirzyanov N. A. et al. Tsvetnye Metally — Non-ferrous metals. 2004. No. 5. pp. 60–63.
9. Alkenov A. A. Fiziko-khimicheskie osnovy i razrabotka kompleksnoy tekhnologii izvlecheniya galliya, vanadiya i fosfora iz alyuminiysoderzhashchego syrya Respubliki Kazakhstan : avtoreferat dissertatsii ... doktora tekhnicheskikh nauk (Physical-chemical basis and development of complex technology of extraction of gallium, vanadium and phosphorous from aluminium-containing raw materials of Republic of Kazakhstan : thesis of a report of Dissertation … of Doctor of Engineering Sciences). Almaty : The Kazakh University of the International Relations and World Languages named after Abylay Khan, 2006. 38 p.
10. Bukin V. I., Reznik A. M. Semenov S. A. et al. Vestnik Moskovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta tonkikh khimicheskikh tekhnologiy imeni M. V. Lomonosova — Bulletin of Lomonosov Moscow University of Fine Chemical Technology. 2006. No. 6. pp. 16–25.
11. Yatsenko S. P., Demenev N. V. Zhurnal neorganicheskoy khimii — Russian Journal of Inorganic chemistry. 1959. Vol. IV, Iss. 4. pp. 869–876 ; Iss. 6. pp. 1437-1442.
12. Yatsenko S. P., Rubinshteyn G. M., Pyagay I. N. Tsvetnye Metally — Non-ferrous metals. 2009. No. 12. pp. 41–44.
13. Rubinshteyn G. M., Yatsenko S. P., Skachkov V. M. et al. Sbornik dokladov III Mezhdunarodnoy nauchno-prakticheskoy konferentsii “Energosberezhenie, otoplenie, ventilyatsiya, vodosnabzhenie” (Collection of reports of the III International scientific-practical conference “Energy-saving, heating, ventilation, water supply”). Ekaterinburg : Ural Federal University, 2013. pp. 110–114.

Language of full-text english
Full content Buy
Back