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Germanium recovery by catechol complexation and subsequent flow through membrane and bead‐packed bed column
Author(s) -
Takemura Hiroaki,
Morisada Shintaro,
Ohto Keisuke,
Kawakita Hidetaka,
Matsuo Yoshiyasu,
Fukuda Daisuke
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of chemical technology and biotechnology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.64
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1097-4660
pISSN - 0268-2575
DOI - 10.1002/jctb.3985
Subject(s) - germanium , catechol , membrane , adsorption , packed bed , inorganic chemistry , chemistry , ion exchange , materials science , chromatography , chemical engineering , ion , organic chemistry , silicon , biochemistry , engineering
BACKGROUND Ion‐exchange has been a powerful tool for metal recovery. Germanium has been recovered using the commercially available N‐methylglucamine resin. To treat waste‐water from solar panel displays a method to separate selectively germanium from silicate ion was required. A novel recovery of germanium is proposed in which germanium is complexed with catechol in solution and the complex solution flowed through a membrane or bead‐packed bed.RESULTS By changing pH , germanium was complexed with catechol, 3‐methylcatechol and 4‐nitrocatechol in solution and the solution was adsorbed on the membrane in a batch mode, demonstrating that catechol exhibited a high adsorption performance in neutral pH . In a continuous system, the membrane achieved faster adsorption of the germanium complex than a bead‐packed bed.CONCLUSION The high‐speed recovery of germanium was due to the transport to the vicinity of quaternary amino group in the membrane via convection. A germanium solution containing silicate ions was passed through the membrane system, resulting in highly selective recovery of germanium ion. © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry