Floatation separation of germanium in potassium iodide-tetrabutyl ammonium bromide-aqueous system
ZHONG Li1, SI Xue-zhi2, MA Dong-dong1, LI Yu-ling1, MA Wan-shan*1
1.College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering , Xinyang Normal University, Xinyang 464000, China; 2.College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450052, China
Abstract：The behavior and conditions for flotation and separation of germanium from other metal ions were investigated with potassium iodide(KI)-tetrabutyl ammonium bromide(TBAB)-aqueous system. The results showed that, in aqueous solutions, germanium combined with KI and TBAB into a insoluble ternary-association compound [GeI62-][TBAB+]2, which was floated well on the surface of aqueous phase to form liquid-solid biphase with a distinct boundary layer. Germanium could be quantiatively separated from Ce, Cr, Ni, Mg, Fe, Zn, Sn, Zr, V, Co, Mo, Mn, Al, W, Ga, Rh, U, La and Ti at pH 2 when the concentrations of TBAB and KI in the solution were 9.0×10-4 mol/L and 3.0×10-2 mol/L, respectively. This method was applied for the separation and determination of germanium in synthetic water sample, the floatation yields of germanium were 97.8%-100%.
