A1 Journal article (refereed), original research
Novel mechanical pre-treatment methods for effective indium recovery from end-of-life liquid-crystal display panels
Open Access publication
Publication Details Authors: Lahtela Ville, Virolainen Sami, Uwaoma Andreas, Kallioinen Mari, Kärki Timo, Sainio Tuomo
Publisher: Elsevier
Publication year: 2019
Language: English
Journal acronym: JCPL
Volume number: 230
Start page: 580
End page: 591
Number of pages: 12
ISSN: 0959-6526
eISSN: 1879-1786
JUFO-Level of this publication: 2
Open Access: Open Access publication
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Abstract
This study investigated the suitability of mechanical pre-treatment
methods (mechanical abrasion and treatments of heat, laser, and plasma)
together with a hydrometallurgical process comprising leaching and
cementation for recovering indium from used LCD screens. With mechanical
abrasion pre-treatment, 96.2% of indium was recovered and black mass
with an indium content of 15.6 wt percent was obtained. Following the
mechanical recovery, sulfuric acid leaching was used to produce
leachates with an indium purity ranging from 86.3 to 98.0% with an
88.7–100% yield for indium. Indium was recovered from the leachate by
cementation with zinc powder, but also the impurity metals were
cemented. The suggested mechanical pre-treatment involving the indium
recovery process was seen as a viable option since it dramatically
reduces the mass fed to the hydrometallurgical purification process (by
roughly a factor of 1000), and up to 97.1% pure indium product can be
obtained with a simplified process. The purity of the indium product can
be further increased by additional purification steps.