Recovery of Ga(III) from chloride solutions by solvent extraction with Cextrant 230

Abstract In the present work, an α-aminophosphonate extractant di(2-ethylhexyl) [N-(2-ethylhexyl)aminomethyl] phosphonate (Cextrant 230, L) was applied for the selective extraction and recovery of Ga(III) from the chloride solutions. The extraction of Ga(III) was compared with that of other metal ions such as Fe 3+ , Fe 2+ , Zn 2+ , Al 3+ , Mg 2+ and Sn 2+ . The extracted complex of Ga(III) was deduced to be HGaCl 4 ·L. The extraction equilibrium constant and thermodynamic parameters ( ΔG , ΔH and ΔS ) were calculated. The positi v e value of ΔH indicates that the extraction reaction of Ga(III) is an endothermic process. The loading capacity of 30% ( v/v ) Cextrant 230 for Ga(III) was determined to be 0.38 mol/L. The loaded gallium can be complete stripped by distilled water. A process was established for the selective recovery of Ga(III), by which the purity of the gallium product reached 94% with a yield of 89.5%