Pilot plant for the recovery of gallium goes into operation

Scientists and engineers from Freiberg want to help secure the availability of this important material with a pilot plant for the recovery of gallium. In a biotechnological process, wastewater from the Freiberg-based company Compound Materials will be treated in a research facility and the gallium recovered, according to the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), which is involved in the project.

Gallium is crucial for the semiconductor industry

Gallium is considered a strategically important element and backbone of the semiconductor industry for applications in mobile data transmission and optoelectronics. It is used in wafers, the base plates for electronic components, in electronic chips and in optical components such as LEDs and lasers, for example. One kilogram of gallium costs around 1,000 euros - and the trend is rising.

Significant losses when processing the material

The problem is that a considerable amount of the raw material is lost during industrial processing, for example when etching or polishing processes remove material. According to the HZDR, some of the residues are highly diluted or the mixture is chemically complex, making it difficult to recover them using conventional chemical methods. This is where research at the HZDR's Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology (HIF) comes in.

The scientists described gallium as a critical raw material that is essential both for the development of renewable energy sources and for the development of energy-efficient systems. Efficient recycling technologies are needed to ensure the availability of gallium for high-tech applications in the future.

Science sees great savings potential

According to the HZDR, the process was successfully tested on a laboratory scale with a throughput of ten liters per day. The pilot plant is now already handling 100 liters per day. It will soon be able to handle 1,000 to 2,000 liters per day. "Manufacturing companies in the high-tech sector typically produce between 10,000 and 300,000 liters of wastewater per day. In the mining industry, this can be as much as 20 million liters or more. In the German high-tech sector alone, two to five tons of gallium per year could be saved by recycling wastewater and thus reducing dependence on imports."