Investigating Mechanism of Collector Concentration on the Selective Separation of Gallium from Zinc Using Ion Flotation

Zinc is an impure element in acidic solutions obtained from gallium sources; therefore, the selective separation of gallium from zinc using sodium dodecyl sulfate as an anionic collector was investigated by flotation. The effect of the collector concentration on the selective separation of Ga(III) from Zn(II) were studied at pH=2. The results indicated that the size of Ga(III)-cupferron complexes formed in aqueous solution were significantly affected on the selective separation of gallium from zinc. Also, the results indicated that the optimum selective separation of gallium at an equimolar solution of Ga(III) and Al(III) (1.5 ×10-4 M) obtained after the addition of 4.5×10-4 M sodium dodecyl sulfate to solution. The separation mechanism of flotation and the Ga(III)-cupferron complexes formed was studied using UV-visible spectroscopy, conductimetric analyze, dynamic light scattering and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).