Gallium recovery from solar cell industry waste by using solvent impregnated resin

This research is to separate and recover gallium and copper from spent Cu-Ga targets. The experiments of separation and enrichment of gallium were conducted by using solvent impregnated resins (SIR) in a hydrochloride acid system. Solvent impregnated resins have been prepared by a wet-impregnation technique using the polymer matrix, Diaion HP-20 that possesses a hydrophobic styrene-divinylbenzene polymeric structure. D2EHPA was employed as the extractant and ethanol as the solvent for impregnation. Batch sorption studies have shown that solvent impregnated resins containing D2EHPA can be effectively used for the recovery gallium from solutions. The SIRs capacity and equilibrium time are 20.4 mg/g and 10 hours, respectively. The SIRs experimental results show that the characteristics of gallium sorption isotherm was fit the Langmuir isotherm model. Hydrochloric acid solution of 2N or Sodium hydroxide solution of 1N were found to be an effective desorbing agent. Gallium is successfully recovered with >99% recovery. After 5 cycles the solvent loss 2.13%. The SIR has good stability in hydrochloric acid solution.