METHOD FOR EXTRACTING GALLIUM FROM FLY ASH

Abstract

Disclosed is a method for extracting gallium from fly ash, which comprises the following steps: crushing the fly ash and removing Fe by magnetic separation; then dissolving it by using hydrochloride acid (2) to obtain hydrochloric acid leachate; adsorbing gallium in the hydrochloric acid leachate with macro-porous cationic resin, followed by eluting to obtain the eluent (5) containing gallium; adding sodium hydroxide (6) solution into the eluent containing gallium to react and obtaining sodium metaaluminate solution containing gallium (8); introducing CO2 into the sodium metaaluminate solution containing gallium (8) for carbonation, followed by separating gallium from aluminum and obtaining aluminum-gallium double salt (15) with the gallium to alumina mass ratio being more than 1:340; adding the aluminum-gallium double salt (15) into sodium hydroxide (17) to react, followed by alkalinity-adjustment concentration to obtain alkali solution containing gallium and aluminum; electrolyzing (10) the alkali solution containing gallium and aluminum to obtain metal gallium (11). The method simplifies the process and improves extraction efficiency of gallium.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method for extracting metal gallium from fly ash and in particular relates to a method for extracting metal gallium from circulating fluidized-bed fly ash.

BACKGROUND

Gallium is an important semiconductor material and widely used. The price of gallium is very high in the international market and thus gallium has a bright prospect. However, the reserve of gallium is low, only approximately 0.015% in the earth's crust. Gallium almost does not form minerals, but exists with other minerals in form of isomorphism. Therefore, extraction of gallium is considerably difficult. Gallium is often found in conjunction with aluminum and zinc in minerals in nature. As such, sulfide deposits of zinc and bauxite ore serve as a primary source of the extraction of gallium. Nowadays, more than 90% of gallium in the world is extracted from the by-product of alumina industry in which bauxite is used as a main raw material. The mother liquid used for the enrichment and separation of gallium is the mother liquid obtained from carbon precipitation (or seed precipitation) during the process for producing alumina. The main component of such mother liquid obtained from carbon precipitation (or seed precipitation) is a base sodium metaaluminate solution containing gallium. Main methods for extracting gallium from such base solution include a method for removing aluminum via lime cream and carbonation, dealumination method of carbonated lime milk two-stage decomposition method, precipitation method and resin adsorption method which develops in recent years.

The recent studies have shown that the fly ash obtained from some places contains a large amount of gallium which even overpasses the gallium level of mineral deposit. It has been verified by researches that the gallium content in the fly ash is usually 12-230 μg/g. As compared with the gallium contents of other resources, the fly ash deserves to be extracted for metal gallium as a raw material. In light of different conditions of calcinations, the fly ash is classified into pulverized coal-fired boiler fly ash and circulating fluidized-bed fly ash. The pulverized coal-fired boiler fly ash is produced when coal is burned at a very high temperature (1400-1600° C.), in which alumina is in glassy state or present as a mineral form of mullite crystals or corundum crystals of hot aluminum mineral which make such alumina very stable. While the combustion temperature of circulating fluidized-bed fly ash is much lower than that of traditional pulverized coal-fired boiler fly ash, only about 850° C. Different combustion temperatures make a substantial difference in phase composition between the pulverized coal-fired boiler fly ash and circulating fluidized-bed fly ash, that is, amorphous kaolinite enters into the main phase composition of the circulating fluidized-bed fly ash, in which silicon dioxide, alumina and ferric oxide or the like possess excellent activity.

CN 200810051209.5 discloses a method for extracting both alumina and gallium from fly ash. In the method, sodium metaaluminate solution containing gallium is obtained by acid-leaching and alkali-leaching processes, and then gallium is enriched and separated via multiple-stage carbon precipitation-sodium hydroxide dissolution process.

CN 200710065366.7 discloses a method for extracting silicon dioxide, alumina and gallium oxide from high-alumina fly ash. The method comprises steps of treating the residues produced after the extraction of silicon dioxide from fly ash to obtain sodium metaaluminate solution containing gallium, using such solution as the mother liquid to enrich gallium via multiple-stage carbon precipitation-sodium hydroxide dissolution process and resin adsorption process.

CN 200710145132.3 discloses a method for co-producing gallium and alumina. The method comprises steps of treating fly ash to obtain sodium metaaluminate solution containing gallium, enriching gallium by the Bayer dissolving system and then separating the enriched gallium by adsorption process using chelating resin.

CN 200710141488.X discloses a method for producing gallium. The intermediate product, i.e. mother liquid of carbon precipitation, obtained from the process for producing alumina from fly ash is used as a raw material and reacts with sodium bicarbonate, and then subjects to a thorough carbonation, so as to obtain a gallium concentrate.

In the above patent documents, the mother liquid of carbon precipitation (or seed precipitation) obtained from the process for producing alumina from fly ash is used as a raw material for the enrichment and separation of gallium, that is, the mother liquid used for extracting gallium is a base sodium metaaluminate solution containing gallium.

CN 200810017872.3 discloses a process for extracting gallium from fly ash and coal gangue. In the process, an adsorption method via absorbent columns is used for extracting gallium from an aluminum chloride solution containing gallium which is obtained by mixing fly ash and sodium carbonate, subjecting the mixture to calcination followed by water leaching and carbon precipitating and then reacting with hydrochloride acid. Such process, as fly ash and sodium carbonate are mixed and calcined at a very high temperature before acid leaching, is suitable for extracting gallium from pulverized coal-fired boiler fly ash which has weak activity.

Jiazhen He et al. has reported “a research on technique of recycling gallium from fly ash” (Scientific Research, 2002, No. 5, p23-26), in which the fly ash reacts directly with hydrochloride acid to yield an aluminum chloride solution containing gallium, without being calcined at a very high temperature, and then gallium is extracted by resin adsorption. The reaction temperature of the fly ash and hydrochloride acid is low (60° C.), which makes the leaching efficiency of gallium very low (35.2%). Moreover, the resin for extraction used in the method is levextred resin (CL-TBP). The adsorptin principle of such resin is similar to that of solvent extraction. Such resin is obtained by polymerizing and curing the active group of an extracting agent with the base resin. Consequently, the adsorption efficiency of the resin is very low and the production cost is very high.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the invention is to provide an improved method for extracting metal gallium from circulating fluidized-bed fly ash.

The method for extracting metal gallium from circulating fluidized-bed fly ash according to the invention comprises the following steps:

a) crushing the fly ash to a size of 100 mesh or smaller, removing iron by wet magnetic separation, such that the ferric oxides content in the fly ash is reduced to 1.0 wt % or less, then adding hydrochloride acid into the de-ironed fly ash for acid-leaching reaction, and subjecting the reaction product to solid-liquid separation, so as to yield a hydrochloric leachate having a pH value in the range of 1-3;

b) adsorbing gallium in the hydrochloric leachate by passing the same through a column loading with a macro-porous cationic resin; eluting the column with water or hydrochloride acid as an eluting agent when the adsorption reaches saturation to obtain a gallium-containing eluent;

c) adding sodium hydroxide solution into the gallium-containing eluent, separating precipitates after reaction by filtration to remove iron in the eluent and thus obtaining a gallium-containing sodium metaaluminate solution;

d) subjecting the gallium-containing sodium metaaluminate solution to carbonation by introducing carbon dioxide therein, followed by separating gallium from most aluminum and obtaining gallium-aluminum double salt with the mass ratio of gallium to alumina being more than 1:340; and

e) adding the obtained gallium-aluminum double salt into a sodium hydroxide solution, followed by subjecting the reactant to evaporation and concentration to obtain a base solution containing gallium and aluminum with the contents of gallium and alumina being 1 mol/l or more respectively, and then electrolyzing the base solution to obtain metal gallium.

Hereinafter the method according to the invention will be further described in detail, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

In step a) according to an embodiment of the invention, the fly ash includes, but is not limited to circulating fluidized-bed fly ash. In light of particle size distribution of the fly ash, the fly ash is crushed to a size of 100 mesh or smaller, removing iron contained in the crushed fly ash before the acid-leaching, such that the iron content in the fly ash is reduced to 1.0 wt % or less. The methods for removing iron may be any conventional methods for removing iron, such as magnetic separation. Preferably, wet magnetic separation is used in the present invention. Any conventional magnetic separator suitable for removing iron from powder-like material may be used for the wet magnetic separation in the present invention, as long as the iron content of the fly ash can be reduced to 1.0 wt % or less. The iron content in the fly ash is calculated on the basis of the weight of the dried fly ash containing no water.

Preferably, the magnetic separator used for fly ash is a vertical ring magnetic separator. Further preferably, the vertical ring magnetic separator comprises a rotating ring, an inductive medium, an upper iron yoke, a lower iron yoke, a magnetic exciting coil, a feeding opening, a tailing bucket and a water washing device, in which the feeding opening is used for feeding the coal ash to be de-ironed, the tailing bucket is used for discharging the non-magnetic particles after de-ironing, the upper iron yoke and the lower iron yoke are respectively arranged at the inner and outer sides of the lower portion of the rotating ring, the water washing device is arranged above the rotating ring, the inductive medium is arranged in the rotating ring, the magnetic exciting coil is arranged at the periphery of the upper iron yoke and the lower iron yoke so as to make the upper iron yoke and the lower iron yoke to be a pair of magnetic poles for generating a magnetic field in the vertical direction, and the inductive medium is layers of steel plate meshes, each steel plate mesh is woven by wires, and the edges of the wires have prismatic sharp angles.

Preferably, the upper iron yoke and the lower iron yoke are formed integrally, and are arranged, in a plane perpendicular to the rotating ring, to surround the inner and outer sides of the lower portion of the rotating ring.

Preferably, the vertical ring magnetic separator further comprises a pressure balance chamber water jacket disposed adjacent to the magnetic exciting coil.

Preferably, the steel plate mesh is made of 1Cr17.

Preferably, the magnetic exciting coil is a flat wire solenoid coil which is double glass envelope enamelled aluminum.

Preferably, the steel plate mesh has a medium layer spacing of 2-5 mm. More preferably, the steel plate mesh has a medium layer spacing of 3 mm.

Preferably, the steel plate mesh has a thickness of 0.8-1.5 mm, a mesh grid size of 3 mmx 8 mm-8 mmx 15 mm, and a wire width of 1-2 mm. More preferably, the steel plate mesh has a thickness of 1 mm, a mesh grid size of 5 mm×10 mm, and a wire width of 1.6 mm.

Preferably, the vertical ring magnetic separator further comprises a pulsating mechanism, which is coupled with the tailing bucket via a rubber plate.

Preferably, the inductive medium is provided in the entire circle of the rotating ring.

When the above-said vertical ring magnetic separator is used for magnetic separation for de-ironing, it is necessary to timely test the iron content in the slurry subject to the magnetic separation. When the iron content in the slurry is equal to or lower than a predetermined value, the slurry is discharged; when the iron content is higher than the predetermined value, the slurry is returned to the feeding opening for further magnetic separation. Such magnetic separation may be repeated 2-4 times, preferably 2-3 times.

Preferably, when the slurry is magnetically separated by the vertical ring magnetic separator, the vertical ring magnetic separator provides a magnetic field strength of 15,000 Gs or more, further preferably 15,000-20,000 Gs, more preferably 15,000-17,500 Gs.

In step a) according to an embodiment of the invention, the filtered cake of the circulating fluidized-bed fly ash subject to magnetic separation is placed into an acid-resistant reactor and then the hydrochloride acid with a preferred concentration of 20-37 wt % is added therein to perform acid dissolving reaction. In a preferred embodiment, the molar ratio of HCl contained in the hydrochloride acid to alumina contained in the fly ash is 4:1-9:1; the fly ash and hydrochloride acid reacts at a temperature in the range of 100-200° C. and under a pressure in the range of 0.1-2.5 MPa and the reaction time is 0.5-4.0 hours; and then the reaction product is subjected to a solid-liquid separation and rinse to yield an hydrochloric leachate having a pH value in the range of 1-3. The process for the solid-liquid separation may be any of conventional methods, such as settling separation, vacuum filtration, pressure filtration or centrifugation or the like.

In step b) according to an embodiment of the invention, said macro-porous cationic resin is preferably any one selected from D001, 732, 742, 7020H, 7120H, JK008 and SPC-1.

In step b) according to an embodiment of the invention, said macro-porous cationic resin may be strong-acid-cationic resin, such as styrene resins or acrylic resins. The essential performances of the resin include moisture content of 50.0-70.0%, exchange capacity of 3.60 mmol/g or more, volume exchange capacity of 1.20 mmol/g or more, bulk density in wet state of 0.60-0.80 g/ml, particle size of 0.315-1.250 mm, available particle size of 0.400-0.700 mm and maximum working temperature of 95° C.

The gallium contained in the hydrochloric leachate obtained from step a) is adsorbed by passing the same through a column loading with the macro-porous cationic resin. The process for the adsorption may be any of conventional methods. However, it is preferred to conduct the adsorption in such a way that the hydrochloric leachate passes through the resin column from bottom to top at 20-90° C., such that the acid leachate flows upwards piston-like in the gaps of the resin, with a volume flux of 1-4 times over resin volume per hour. The resin column may be single column or two cascaded columns. In the step, while gallium in the hydrochloric leachate is enriched by being absorbed by the macro-porous cationic resin, iron in the hydrochloric leachate is simultaneously effectively adsorbed, so that a refined aluminum chloride solution with a low iron content is obtained, which can be then used for preparing aluminum chloride crystal and metallurgical-grade alumina with low iron content.

The macro-porous cationic resin may be eluted by an eluting agent to obtain a gallium-containing eluent when the adsorption reaches saturation. Preferably, the eluting agent is water or 2-10 wt % hydrochloride acid. The conditions of elution may include that the eluting temperature is 20-60° C., the amount of the eluting agent is 1-3 times over the volume of the resin, the volume flux of the eluting agent is 1-3 times over resin volume per hour, and the eluting agent passes through the resin column in a top-in and bottom-out way during the elution.

The macro-porous cationic resin may regain adsorption capacity via regeneration. The resin may be regenerated with 2-10 wt % hydrochloride acid. During the regeneration, the temperature is 20-60° C., the amount of the hydrochloride acid is 1-2 times over the volume of the resin, and the volume flux of the hydrochloride acid is 1-3 times over resin volume per hour, the hydrochloride acid passes through said resin column in a top-in and bottom-out way.

In step c) according to an embodiment of the invention, sodium hydroxide solution is added into the eluent under stirring and the mass ratio of alumina in the eluent to sodium hydroxide is 1:1-2:1, the eluent reacts with the sodium hydroxide solution at 20-100° C., such that aluminum chloride and gallium chloride contained in the eluent react with sodium hydrochloride to produce sodium metaaluminate/sodium metagallate and ferric chloride precipitates in form of ferric hydroxide. The reaction product is subjected to a solid-liquid separation and rinse to yield gallium-containing sodium metaaluminate solution. Preferably, the concentration of sodium hydroxide solution used in step c) is 180-240 g/l.

In step d) according to an embodiment of the invention, an appropriate amount of carbon dioxide may be fed into the gallium-containing sodium metaaluminate solution, so as to conduct the carbonation once or several times, till the mass ratio between gallium and alumina is more than 1:340 in the obtained gallium-aluminum double salt. Particularly, the carbonation(s) may comprise the following steps.

Primary carbonation: carbon dioxide is introduced with a flow rate of 80-160 ml/min into the gallium-containing sodium metaaluminate mother solution for a smooth carbonation, in which the reaction temperature is controlled to 40-90° C., the carbonation time is 4-10 h, the pH value at the reaction end is 10.6-9.7. After the reaction, most aluminum is precipitated in form of aluminum hydroxide, whereas gallium is retained in the solution. The precipitate is removed from the solution, so as to separate gallium and most aluminum for the first time;

Secondary carbonation: to the solution obtained from the primary carbonation separating the aluminum hydroxide precipitates, carbon dioxide is further introduced with a flow rate of 100-160 ml/min for additional carbonation reaction, in which the reaction temperature is controlled to 30-60° C., the carbonation time is 3-7 h, the pH value at the reaction end is 9.8-9.0, so as to precipitate all aluminum and most gallium. The precipitate is separated by filtration to obtain a gallium-aluminum double salt. The filtrate is concentrated by vaporization, and then sodium carbonate is crystallized out of the solution. After removing the crystallized sodium carbonate, the solution containing a small amount of gallium is recycled to the solution obtained from the primary carbonation at the beginning of the secondary carbonation.

If the mass ratio of gallium and alumina in the gallium-aluminum double salt obtained through the primary carbonation and the secondary carbonation is equal to or less than 1:340, such double salt can be dissolved in sodium hydroxide solution or sodium metaaluminate mother solution to conduct the primary carbonation and the secondary carbonation again till the mass ratio of gallium and alumina in the gallium-aluminum double salt is more than 1:340. The gallium content is measures in accordance with the method of Standard of the People's Republic of China GB/T 20127.5-2006 “Steel and Alloy-Determination of Trace Elements Contents Part V: Determination of Gallium Content by Extraction Separation-Rhodamine B Photometric Method”. The aluminum hydroxide content is calculated by 100% minus the measured gallium hydroxide content, which is then calculated to the alumina content. In the present invention, the aluminum hydroxide and sodium carbonate obtained from the steps for enriching and separating gallium can be recycled as by-product.

In step e) according to an embodiment of the invention, the gallium-aluminum double salt obtained from the secondary carbonation is added into a sodium hydroxide solution to prepare the base solution containing gallium and aluminum. Preferably, the concentration of the sodium hydroxide solution is 180-245 g/l. Both gallium content and sodium hydroxide content in the base solution are adjusted to 1 mol/l or more by adjusting the alkalinity and/or concentrating. Then, the base solution is electrolyzed with platinum electrodes used as the negative and positive electrodes, electrolysis current of 180-200 mA/l, electrolysis voltage of 4V and electrolytic bath temperature of 35-45° C., so as to obtain the metal gallium product.

Preferably, the reaction temperature of the gallium-aluminum double salt precipitate and the sodium hydroxide solution is 20-100° C.

In the present invention, the sodium salts contained in the electrolyzed solution with a high content can be recycled by evaporation and the evaporated water can be re-used.

As compared with processes in the prior art, the method according to the present invention is simple, the extraction efficiency of gallium is high, the production coast is low, and the product quality is steady. The circulating fluidized-bed fly ash with high activity is adopted as the raw material for the invention and gallium is extracted from the fly ash via direct acid-leaching process, which saves the step of calcination and activation with presence of sodium carbonate at a very high temperature and thus simplifies the procedures and reduces the production cost. The acid leaching of the fly ash occurs in acid-resistant reactor at a moderate temperature (in the range of 100-200° C.), and thus the leaching efficiency of gallium is high, being 80% or more. The effective adsorption efficiency of gallium in hydrochloric leachate is 96% or more when lower-cost macro-porous cationic resin is used for adsorbing gallium. During enriching gallium in the hydrochloric leachate by the macro-porous cationic resin, iron in the hydrochloric leachate is also effectively removed, so as to obtain a refined aluminum chloride solution with low iron content which can be used for preparing aluminum chloride crystal and metallurgical-grade alumina with low iron content.

In addition, the experimental study has indicated that, since the magnetic separation apparatus according to the present invention is used, the iron removing efficiency is improved by 20% or more, and the iron removing rate is improved from 60% to 80%, which significantly relieves the burden of de-ironing from solution in the subsequent processes, and thereby reducing the production cost and improving the production efficiency.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of the method according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of the multiple-stage carbonation process according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the vertical ring magnetic separator used in one preferred embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereafter the method according to the present invention will be further described in detail with reference to the drawings, however, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited thereto in any way.

The structure of vertical ring magnetic separator used for the following Examples is shown in FIG. 3. The vertical ring magnetic separator comprises a rotating ring 101, an inductive medium 102, an upper iron yoke 103, a lower iron yoke 104, a magnetic exciting coil 105, a feeding opening 106 and a tailing bucket 107, and also comprises a pulsating mechanism 108 and a water washing device 109.

The rotating ring 101 is a circular ring shaped carrier in which the inductive medium 102 is carried. When the rotating ring 101 is rotated, the inductive medium 102 and the matters adsorbed thereon move together, so as to separate the adsorbed matters. The rotating ring 101 may be made of any suitable material, such as carbon steel etc.

An electric motor or other driving device can provide power to the rotating ring 101 such that the rotating ring 101 can rotate in a set speed.

When parameters, such as iron content or treating amount of the material to be treated is lower than a predetermined value, a relatively low rotating speed, such as 3 rpm, may be used, in order to make the ferromagnetic impurities having sufficient time to be adsorbed onto the inductive medium meshes under the act of magnetic field, and being separated.

The inductive medium 102 is arranged in the rotating ring 101. The magnetic field generated by the magnetic exciting coil 105 makes the upper iron yoke 103 and the lower iron yoke 104 to be a pair of magnetic poles generating magnetic field along the vertical direction. The upper iron yoke 103 and the lower iron yoke 104 are arranged at the inner and outer sides of the lower portion of the rotating ring 101 such that the rotating ring 101 rotates vertically between the magnetic poles. When the rotating ring 101 rotates, the inductive medium 102 in the rotating ring 101 will pass the pair of magnetic poles made up of the upper iron yoke 103 and the lower iron yoke 104 and be magnetized for removing the iron.

The inductive medium 102 may be layers of steel plate meshes. The steel plate meshes are made of 1Cr17. Each layer of steel plate meshes is woven by wires, with the mesh grid having a rhomb shape. The edges of the wires have prismatic sharp angles. The upper iron yoke 103 is communicated with the feeding opening 106 and the lower iron yoke 104 is communicated with the tailing bucket 107 which is used for discharging materials. The steel plate meshes have a medium layer spacing of 3 mm. The magnetic exciting coil 105 is formed of flat wire solenoid coil which is double glass envelope enamelled aluminum and is solid conductor. The current passing through the magnetic exciting coil 105 is continuously adjustable, and thus the strength of the magnetic field generated by the magnetic exciting coil 105 is also continuously adjustable.

The vertical ring magnetic separator further comprises a pulsating mechanism 108 coupled with the tailing bucket 107 via a rubber plate 111. The pulsating mechanism can be achieved by an eccentric link mechanism, such that the alternating force generated by the pulsating mechanism 108 pushes the rubber plate 111 to move forth and back, it is possible for the mineral slurry in the tailing bucket 107 to generate pulsations.

The water washing device 109 is arranged above the rotating ring 101, for flushing the magnetic particles into the concentrate hopper by water flow. The water washing device 109 may be various suitable flushing or spraying device, such as a spraying nozzle, water pipe, etc.

The feeding opening 106 is communicated with a side of the upper iron yoke 103, such that the fly ash can pass through the rotating ring. The feeding opening 106 may be a feeding hopper or a feeding pipe. The feeding opening 106 is configured for feeding the mineral slurry, such that the mineral slurry enters the upper iron yoke 103 with a relatively small fall for preventing the magnetic particles from penetrating the inductive medium 102 due to gravity, thus improving the effect of magnetically separating and impurities removing.

The vertical ring magnetic separator further comprises a cooling device 112, which is provided adjacent to the magnetic exciting coil for decreasing the working temperature of the magnetic exciting coil. The cooling device is a pressure balance chamber water jacket. The pressure balance chamber water jacket is made of stainless steel material, and thus is not prone to scale. As pressure balance chambers are respectively mounted to the inlet and outlet of the water jacket, they ensure that the water flows uniformly through each layer of water jacket and fills throughout the inside of the jacket, thus preventing any local water from taking a shortcut which otherwise would affect heat dissipation. Each layer of water jacket has a water passage with a large cross-section area, and thus it is possible to completely avoid blocking due to scaling. Even if there is a block somewhere, the normal flowing of the circulating water in the water jacket will not be affected. Moreover, the water jacket is in close contact with the coil by a large contacting area, thus most heat generated by the coil can be taken away by the water flow.

The pressure balance chamber water jacket, as compared with the common hollow copper tube for heat dissipation, shows high heat dissipation efficiency, small temperature rise of the windings, and low exciting power. In case of a rated exciting current of 40 A, the magnetic separator with the pressure balance chamber water jacket for heat dissipation can be reduced from 35 kw to 21 kw.

When the magnetic separator apparatus is working, the fed mineral slurry flows along a slot of the upper iron yoke 103 then through the rotating ring 101. As the inductive medium 102 in the rotating ring 101 is magnetized in the background magnetic field, a magnetic field with very high magnetic induction strength (such as 22,000 Gs) is formed at the surface of the inductive medium 102. The magnetic particles in the mineral slurry, under the effect of the very high magnetic field, are adhered to the surface of the inductive medium 102, and rotated with the rotating ring 101 going into the region without magnetic field at top of the rotating ring 101. Then, the magnetic particles are flushed into the concentrate hopper by the water washing device 109 located above the top of the rotating ring. The non-magnetic particles flow along the slots of the lower iron yoke 104 into the tailing bucket 107 and then are discharged via a tailing exit of the tailing bucket 107.

Hereafter the method according to the present invention will be further described in detail with reference to the Examples, however, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited thereto in any way.

In the following Examples, the circulating fluidized-bed fly ash discharged by a thermal power plant is used as the raw material and its chemical components are shown in Table 1. The gallium content in the fly ash is 0.0042 wt %.

TABLE 1
Chemical components of circulating fluidized-bed fly ash (wt %)
SiO2	Al2O3	TiO2	CaO	MgO	TFe2O3	FeO	K2O	Na2O	LOS	SO3	Total
34.70	46.28	1.48	3.61	0.21	1.54	0.22	0.39	0.17	7.17	1.32	95.77

Example 1

The experimental procedures used in the example are as follows.

(1) Crushing the circulating fluidized-bed fly ash to a size of 200 mesh, removing iron by wet magnetic separation using the vertical magnetic separator as illustrated in FIG. 3, such that the ferric oxide content in the fly ash was reduced to 0.8 wt %; putting the filtered cake of the fly ash obtained after magnetic separation into an acid-resistant reactor and adding industrial hydrochloride acid having a concentration of 37 wt % therein to perform acid dissolving reaction, wherein the molar ratio of HCl contained in the hydrochloride acid to alumina contained in the fly ash was 4.5:1, the reaction temperature was 200° C., the reaction pressure was 2.1 MPa and the reaction time was 1 hour; and then pressure-filtering the discharged reaction product by means of plate-and-frame filter press and washing to yield a hydrochloric leachate having pH of 1.7, wherein the leaching efficiency of gallium from the fly ash was measured to be 84.2%.

(2) Cooling the hydrochloric leachate till its temperature was 65° C. by means of heat-exchange, then pumping the hydrochloric leachate through corrosion-resistant pump into resin column (single-column and loaded with D001 Resin (Anhui Wandong Chemical Plant)) to enrich gallium, wherein the flow flux of the hydrochloric leachate was 2 times over resin volume per hour; and when the adsorption reached saturation, eluting the resin column with 4 wt % hydrochloride acid as eluting agent at 25° C. to obtain gallium-rich eluent, wherein the flow flux of the hydrochloride acid was 2 times over resin volume per hour, and the total amount of the eluting agent used for elution was 2 times over the volume of the resin; and regenerating the resin with 4 wt % hydrochloride acid, wherein the adsorption efficiency of gallium in the acid leachate was measured to be 96.4%.

(3) Adding 180 g/l sodium hydroxide solution into the eluent, so that the mass ratio of alumina to sodium hydroxide in the solution was 1.0, and keeping reacting at 20° C., subjecting the reaction product to filtration to remove ferric hydroxide precipitate to obtain a gallium-containing sodium metaaluminate solution.

(4) Introducing carbon dioxide gas with a flow rate of 80 ml/min into 100 ml of the gallium-containing sodium metaaluminate mother solution obtained from step (3) at 65° C., the pH value at the end of reaction was 10.5, then filtering the resultant to finish the primary carbonation; subjecting the filtrate obtained from the primary carbonation to the secondary carbonation: further introducing carbon dioxide gas with a flow rate of 100 ml/min at 60° C., the pH value at the end of the reaction was 9.8, then filtering the resultant to obtain a gallium-aluminum double salt precipitate. The mass ratio of gallium to alumina in the double salt was 1/330. The gallium content was measured in accordance with the method of Standard of the People's Republic of China GB/T 20127.5-2006 “Steel and Alloy-Determination of Trace Element Contents Part V: Determination of Gallium Content by Extraction Separation-Rhodamine B Photometric Method”. The aluminum hydroxide content was 100% minus gallium hydroxide content, and thereby the alumina content was calculated.

(5) Adding the aluminum-gallium double salt obtained from step (4) into a sodium hydroxide solution of 180 g/l and keeping the reaction at 25° C. to obtain a base solution rich of gallium, then adjusting the gallium content to 1.5 mol/l and electrolyzing with platinum electrodes as the negative and positive electrodes, the electrolysis current of 200 mA/l, electrolysis voltage of 4V and electrolytic bath temperature of 40° C. to obtain metal gallium product. The gallium content in the product was measured to be 99.9% according to the method of “YS/T520-2007 Methods for Chemical Analysis of Gallium”.

Example 2

The operation conditions were the same as those of Example 1 except step (1). Step (1) was adjusted as follows:

Crushing the circulating fluidized-bed fly ash to a size of 150 mesh, removing iron by wet magnetic separation using the vertical magnetic separator as illustrated in FIG. 3, such that the ferric oxide content in the fly ash was reduced to 0.8 wt %; putting the filtered cake of the fly ash obtained after magnetic separation into an acid-resistant reactor and adding industrial hydrochloride acid having a concentration of 28 wt % therein to perform acid dissolving reaction, wherein the molar ratio of HCl contained in the hydrochloride acid to alumina contained in the fly ash was 5:1, the reaction temperature was 150° C., the reaction pressure was 1.0 MPa and the reaction time was 2 hours; and then pressure-filtering the discharged reaction product by means of plate-and-frame filter press and washing to yield a hydrochloric leachate having pH of 1.5, wherein the leaching efficiency of gallium from the fly ash was measured to be 82.8%.

The gallium content in the obtained product was measured to be 99.9%.

Example 3

The operation conditions were the same as those of Example 1 except step (1). Step (1) was adjusted as follows:

Crushing the circulating fluidized-bed fly ash to a size of 200 mesh, removing iron by wet magnetic separation using the vertical magnetic separator as illustrated in FIG. 3, such that the ferric oxide content in the fly ash was reduced to 0.8 wt %; putting the filtered cake of the fly ash obtained after magnetic separation into an acid-resistant reactor and adding industrial hydrochloride acid having a concentration of 20 wt % therein to perform acid dissolving reaction, wherein the molar ratio of HCl contained in the hydrochloride acid to alumina contained in the fly ash was 8:1, the reaction temperature was 100° C., the reaction pressure was 0.1 MPa and the reaction time was 4 h; and then pressure-filtering the discharged reaction product by means of plate-and-frame filter press and washing to yield a hydrochloric leachate having pH of 1.4, wherein the leaching efficiency of gallium from the fly ash was measured to be 80.1%.

The gallium content in the obtained product was measured to be 99.9%.

Example 4

The operation conditions were the same as those of Example 1 except step (2). Step (2) was adjusted as follows:

Cooling the hydrochloric leachate till its temperature was 90° C. by means of heat-exchange, then pumping the hydrochloric leachate through corrosion-resistant pump into the resin columns (two columns in series and loaded with JK008 Resin (Anhui Wandong Chemical Plant)) to enrich gallium, wherein the flow flux of the hydrochloric leachate was 4 times over resin volume per hour; and when the adsorption reached saturation, eluting the resin column with 2 wt % hydrochloride acid as eluting agent at 60° C. to obtain gallium-rich eluent, wherein the flow flux of the hydrochloride acid was 1 time over resin volume per hour, and the total amount of the eluting agent used for elution was 2 times over the volume of the resin and 4 wt % hydrochloride acid was used for the regeneration of the resin, wherein the adsorption efficiency of gallium in the acid leachate was measured to be 96.9%.

The gallium content in the obtained product was measured to be 99.9%.

Example 5

The operation conditions were the same as those of Example 1 except step (2). Step (2) was adjusted as follows:

Cooling the hydrochloric leachate till its temperature was 70° C. by means of heat-exchange, then pumping the hydrochloric leachate through corrosion-resistant pump into the resin columns (two columns in series and loaded with 732 Resin (Anhui Sanxing Resin Ltd., Co)) to enrich gallium, wherein the flow flux of the hydrochloric leachate was 1 time over resin volume per hour; and when the adsorption reached saturation, eluting the resin column with water as eluting agent at 60° C. to obtain gallium-rich eluent, wherein the flow flux of the water was 1 time over resin volume per hour, and the total amount of the eluting agent used for elution was 3 times over the volume of the resin and the adsorption efficiency of gallium in the acid leachate was measured to be 96.2%.

The gallium content in the obtained product was measured to be 99.9%.

Example 6

The operation conditions were the same as those of Example 1 except step (2). Step (2) was adjusted as follows:

Cooling the hydrochloric leachate till its temperature was 40° C. by means of heat-exchange, then pumping the hydrochloric leachate through corrosion-resistant pump into the resin column (single-column form and loaded with SPC-1 Resin (Shanghai Resin Plant)) to enrich gallium, wherein the flow flux of the hydrochloric leachate was 1 time over resin volume per hour; and when the adsorption reached saturation, eluting the resin column with 10 wt % hydrochloride acid as eluting agent at 30° C. to obtain gallium-rich eluent, wherein the flow flux of the hydrochloride acid was 3 times over resin volume per hour, and the total amount of the eluting agent used for elution was 1 time over the volume of the resin and the adsorption efficiency of gallium in the acid leachate was measured to be 96.5%.

The gallium content in the obtained product was measured to be 99.9%.

Example 7

The operation conditions were the same as those of Example 1 except step (3). Step (3) was adjusted as follows:

Adding 240 g/l sodium hydroxide solution into the eluent, so that the mass ratio of alumina to sodium hydroxide in the solution was 2, and keeping reacting at 90° C., subjecting the reaction product to filtration to remove ferric hydroxide precipitate to obtain a gallium-containing sodium metaaluminate solution.

The gallium content in the obtained product was measured to be 99.9%.

Example 8

The operation conditions were the same as those of Example 1 except step (4). Step (4) was adjusted as follows:

Introducing carbon dioxide gas with a flow rate of 160 ml/min into 100 ml of the gallium-containing sodium metaaluminate mother solution obtained from step (3) at 90° C., the pH was controlled to 9.8, then filtering the resultant to finish the primary carbonation; subjecting the filtrate obtained from the primary carbonation to the secondary carbonation: further introducing carbon dioxide gas with a flow rate of 150 ml/min at 60° C., the pH was controlled to 9.0, then filtering the resultant to obtain gallium-aluminum double salt precipitate. The double salt was dissolved in the sodium metaaluminate mother solution, and under the same conditions, the above primary and secondary carbonations were repeated to obtain gallium-aluminum double salt precipitate again. The mass ratio of gallium to alumina in the latest double salt was measured to be 1/290.

The gallium content in the obtained product was measured to be 99.9%.

Example 9

The operation conditions were the same as those of Example 8 except step (4). In step (4), after the twice carbonations as described in Example 8, under the same conditions, the carbonation was repeated for the third time to obtain a gallium-aluminum double salt precipitate. The mass ratio of gallium to alumina in the double salt was measured to be 1/120.

The gallium content in the obtained product was measured to be 99.9%.

Example 10

The operation conditions were the same as those of Example 8 except step (5). Step (5) was adjusted as follows:

Adding the gallium-aluminum double salt obtained from step (4) into a sodium hydroxide solution with a concentration of 240 g/l, and keeping reacting at 25° C. to obtain a base solution rich of gallium, then adjusting the gallium content to 1.1 mol/l and electrolyzing the base solution to obtain metal gallium product.

The gallium content in the obtained product was measured to be 99.9%.

Claims

1. A method for extracting gallium from fly ash, comprising the following steps:

a) crushing the fly ash to a size of 100 mesh or smaller, removing iron by wet magnetic separation, such that the ferric oxides content in the fly ash is reduced to 1.0 wt % or less, then adding hydrochloride acid into the de-ironed fly ash to perform an acid-leaching reaction, and subjecting the reaction product to solid-liquid separation to yield a hydrochloric leachate having a pH value in the range of 1-3;

b) adsorbing gallium in the hydrochloric leachate by passing the same through a column loading with a macro-porous cationic resin; eluting the column with water or hydrochloride acid as an eluting agent when the adsorption reaches saturation to obtain a gallium-containing eluent;

c) adding sodium hydroxide solution into the gallium-containing eluent to react, separating precipitates after reaction by filtration to obtain a gallium-containing sodium metaaluminate solution;

d) subjecting the gallium-containing sodium metaaluminate solution to carbonation by introducing carbon dioxide therein, and then separating gallium from most aluminum to obtain a gallium-aluminum double salt with the mass ratio of gallium to alumina being more than 1:340; and

e) adding the gallium-aluminum double salt into a sodium hydroxide solution, subjecting the reactant to evaporation and concentration to obtain a base solution containing gallium and aluminum with the contents of gallium and alumina being μmol/l or more respectively, and then electrolyzing the base solution to obtain metal gallium,

wherein in the acid leaching reaction of step a), the reaction temperature is 100-200° C., the reaction pressure is 0.1-2.5 MPa, and

in step b), the macro-porous cationic resin is selected from any one of D001, 732 and 742.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in step a), the concentration of the hydrochloride acid is 20-37 wt %; the molar ration of HCl contained in the hydrochloride acid to alumina contained in the fly ash is 4:1-9:1.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein, in the acid-leaching reaction of step a), reaction time is 0.5-4.0 hours.

4. (canceled)

5. (canceled)

6. The method according to claim 3, wherein, in step b), adsorbing gallium in the hydrochloric leachate by passing the hydrochloric leachate through the column from the bottom to top with a volume flux of 1-4 times over resin volume per hour at 20-90° C.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein, in step b), eluting said macro-porous cationic resin with 2-10 wt % hydrochloride acid as an eluting agent, and preferably, the eluting temperature is 20-60° C., the amount of the eluting agent used is 1-3 times over the volume of the resin, and the eluting rate is 1-3 times over resin volume per hour.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in step c), the concentration of sodium hydroxide solution is 180-240 g/l; preferably, the reaction temperature is 20-100° C.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in step d), the carbonation by introducing carbon dioxide into the gallium-containing sodium metaaluminate solution comprises the steps of:

performing a primary carbonation: introducing carbon dioxide into the gallium-containing sodium metaaluminate mother solution obtained in step c), in which the flow rate of carbon dioxide is in the range of 80-160 ml/min, the reaction temperature is controlled in the range of 40-90° C., the carbonation time is in the range of 4-10 h, the pH value at the end of the reaction is in the range of 10.6-9.7, then separating the precipitates from the solution by filtration, so as to separate gallium from aluminum for the first time;

performing a secondary carbonation: further introducing carbon dioxide into the solution obtain from the primary carbonation after the separation of the aluminum hydroxide precipitates, in which the flow rate of carbon dioxide is in the range of 100-160 ml/min the reaction temperature is controlled in the range of 30-60° C., the carbonation time is in the range of 3-7 h, the pH value at the end of the reaction is in the range of 9.8-9.0, so as to precipitate all aluminum and most gallium; subjecting the reactant to filtration to obtain gallium-aluminum double salt; then crystallizing sodium carbonate in the filtrate obtained from the filtration by evaporization and concentration and separating the crystallized sodium carbonate from the solution; and then recycling the filtrate containing a small amount of gallium obtained after the separation of sodium carbonate to the beginning of the secondary carbonation for further carbonation.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein, in step d), when the mass ratio of gallium to alumina in the gallium-aluminum double salt obtained after the primary carbonation and secondary carbonation is equal to or less than 1:340, dissolving the double salt in a sodium hydroxide solution or the sodium metaaluminate mother solution and repeating the primary carbonation and the secondary carbonation until the mass ratio of gallium to alumina in the last gallium-aluminum double salt is more than 1:340.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in step e), the concentration of sodium hydroxide solution is 180-245 g/l; preferably, the reaction temperature in step e) is 20-100° C.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in step e), when the base solution containing aluminum and gallium is electrolyzed, platinum electrodes are used as the negative and positive electrodes, electrolysis current is in the range of 180-200 mA/l, electrolysis voltage is in the range of 4V and electrolytic bath temperature is in the range of 35-45° C.

13. The method according to any claim 1, wherein, in step a), the apparatus used for de-ironing by wet magnetic separation is a vertical ring magnetic separator which comprises a rotating ring, an inductive medium, an upper iron yoke, a lower iron yoke, a magnetic exciting coil, a feeding opening, a tailing bucket and a water washing device, wherein the feeding opening is used for feeding the coal ash to be de-ironed, the tailing bucket is used for discharging the non-magnetic particles after de-ironing, the upper iron yoke and the lower iron yoke are respectively arranged at the inner and outer sides of the lower portion of the rotating ring, the water washing device is arranged above the rotating ring, the inductive medium is arranged in the rotating ring, the magnetic exciting coil is arranged at the periphery of the upper iron yoke and the lower iron yoke so as to make the upper iron yoke and the lower iron yoke to be a pair of magnetic poles for generating a magnetic field in the vertical direction, and wherein the inductive medium is layers of steel plate meshes, each steel plate mesh is woven by wires, and the edges of the wires have prismatic sharp angles.

14. (canceled)

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein the vertical ring magnetic separator further comprises a pressure balance chamber water jacket disposed adjacent to the magnetic exciting coil.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the steel plate mesh has a medium layer spacing of 2-5 mm, preferably 3 mm; and the steel plate mesh is made of 1Cr17.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the steel plate mesh has a thickness of 0.8-1.5 mm, a mesh grid size of 3 mm×8 mm-8 mm×15 mm, and a wire width of 1-2 mm, preferably, the steel plate mesh has a thickness of 1 mm, a mesh grid size of 5 mm×10 mm, and a wire width of 1.6 mm.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the vertical ring magnetic separator further comprises a pulsating mechanism, which is coupled with the tailing bucket via a rubber plate.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the inductive medium is provided in the entire circle of the rotating ring.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the magnetic exciting coil is a flat wire solenoid coil which is double glass envelope enamelled aluminum.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the magnetic field strength of the vertical ring magnetic separator is 15,000 Gs or more, preferably 15,000-20,000 Gs, further preferably 15,000-17,500 Gs.

22. A method for extracting gallium from fly ash, comprising the following steps:

a) crushing the fly ash to a size of 100 mesh or smaller, removing iron by wet magnetic separation, such that the ferric oxides content in the fly ash is reduced to 1.0 wt % or less, then adding hydrochloride acid into the de-ironed fly ash to perform an acid-leaching reaction, and subjecting the reaction product to solid-liquid separation to yield a hydrochloric leachate having a pH value in the range of 1-3;

b) cooling the hydrochloric leachate till its temperature is 90° C., then pumping the hydrochloric leachate into a column loaded with JK008 Resin to enrich gallium, wherein the flow flux of the hydrochloric leachate is 4 times over resin volume per hour; and when the adsorption reached saturation, eluting the column with 2 wt % hydrochloride acid as an eluting agent at 60° C. to obtain a gallium-rich eluent, wherein the flow flux of the hydrochloride acid is 1 time over resin volume per hour, and the total amount of the eluting agent used for elution is 2 times over the volume of the resin;

c) adding sodium hydroxide solution into the gallium-containing eluent to react, separating precipitates after reaction by filtration to obtain a gallium-containing sodium metaaluminate solution;

d) subjecting the gallium-containing sodium metaaluminate solution to carbonation by introducing carbon dioxide therein, and then separating gallium from most aluminum to obtain a gallium-aluminum double salt with the mass ratio of gallium to alumina being more than 1:340; and

e) adding the gallium-aluminum double salt into a sodium hydroxide solution, subjecting the reactant to evaporation and concentration to obtain a base solution containing gallium and aluminum with the contents of gallium and alumina being 1 mol/l or more respectively, and then electrolyzing the base solution to obtain metal gallium,

wherein in the acid-leaching reaction of step a), the reaction temperature is 100-200° C., the reaction pressure is 0.1-2.5 MPa.

23. A method for extracting gallium from fly ash, comprising the following steps:

a) crushing the fly ash to a size of 100 mesh or smaller, removing iron by wet magnetic separation, such that the ferric oxides content in the fly ash is reduced to 1.0 wt % or less, then adding hydrochloride acid into the de-ironed fly ash to perform an acid-leaching reaction, and subjecting the reaction product to solid-liquid separation to yield a hydrochloric leachate having a pH value in the range of 1-3;

b) cooling the hydrochloric leachate till its temperature is 40° C., then pumping the hydrochloric leachate into a column loaded with SPC-1 Resin to enrich gallium, wherein the flow flux of the hydrochloric leachate is 1 time over resin volume per hour; and when the adsorption reached saturation, eluting the column with 10 wt % hydrochloride acid as an eluting agent at 30° C. to obtain a gallium-rich eluent, wherein the flow flux of the hydrochloride acid is 3 times over resin volume per hour, and the total amount of the eluting agent used for elution is 1 time over the volume of the resin;

c) adding sodium hydroxide solution into the gallium-containing eluent to react, separating precipitates after reaction by filtration to obtain a gallium-containing sodium metaaluminate solution;

d) subjecting the gallium-containing sodium metaaluminate solution to carbonation by introducing carbon dioxide therein, and then separating gallium from most aluminum to obtain a gallium-aluminum double salt with the mass ratio of gallium to alumina being more than 1:340; and

e) adding the gallium-aluminum double salt into a sodium hydroxide solution, subjecting the reactant to evaporation and concentration to obtain a base solution containing gallium and aluminum with the contents of gallium and alumina being μmol/l or more respectively, and then electrolyzing the base solution to obtain metal gallium,

wherein in the acid-leaching reaction of step a), the reaction temperature is 100-200° C., the reaction pressure is 0.1-2.5 MPa.