ГОДИШНИК НА МИННО-ГЕОЛОЖКИЯ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ “СВ. ИВАН РИЛСКИ”, Том 56, Св. II, Добив и преработка на минерални суровини, 2013
ANNUAL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINING AND GEOLOGY “ST. IVAN RILSKI”, Vol. 56, Part ІI, Mining and Mineral processing, 2013
INDIUM – ONE OF CRUCIAL METALS FOR THE SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY DEVELOPMENT
Marinela Panayotova, Vladko Panayotov
University of Mining and Geology, Sofia 1700, Bulgaria, E-mail: marichim@mgu.bg
ABSTRACT. Indium is a high-tech metal, essential for the sustainable economy and communications development. It is fundamental to production of RES and new
environmentally and consumer friendly devices used in the every-day life. Its availability is increasingly under pressure. Present paper reviews most important
applications, main nowadays production ways, production amounts, resource base, current and future demand of indium. Potential of pre- and post-consumer
recycling is addressed as one of the main ways to secure metal amounts needed for new productions. Attention is drawn to the underestimated until now sources,
such as byproducts, residues, tailings, solid waste and effluents from raw materials’ processing and water treatment.
ИНДИЙ - ЕДИН ОТ ВАЖНИТЕ МЕТАЛИ ЗА УСТОЙЧИВОТО РАЗВИТИЕ НА ОБЩЕСТВОТО
Маринела Панайотова, Владко Панайотов
Минно-геоложки университет "Св. Иван Рилски", 1700 София, E-mail: marichim@mgu.bg
РЕЗЮМЕ. Индият е високотехнологичен метал, който е от съществено значение за развитието на устойчиви икономика и комуникации. Той е от основно
значение за производството на възобновяеми енергийни източници и опазващи околната среда нови устройства, използвани в ежедневието.
Необходимостта от този метал ще нараства. Настоящата статия разглежда най-важните приложения, основни производствени пътища, производствени
количества, ресурсната база, актуалното и бъдещото търсене на индий. Разглеждат се възможностите на рециклирането, като един от основните начини
за осигуряване на количества метал, необходим за нови производства. Обръща се внимание на подценявани вторични източници, като странични
продукти, хвостохранилища, твърди отпадъци и отпадъчни води от преработване на суровини и пречистване на водите.
Most important technical applications of indium
lithium ion batteries, the SnO2–In2O3/GNS nanocomposite
exhibits a remarkably improved electrochemical performance
in terms of lithium storage capacity (962 mAh/g at 60 mA/g
rate), initial coulombic efficiency (57.2%), cycling stability
(60.8% capacity retention after 50 cycles), and rate capability
393.25 mAh/g at 600 mA/g rate after 25 cycles) compared to
SnO2/GNS and pure SnO2–In2O3 electrode.
Indium (In) is used mainly as indium tin oxide (ITO). ITO,
which accounts for about 85 % of In consumption, is used to
make transparent conductive coatings for displays such as
liquid crystal, flat panel and plasma displays; and touch panels
(TFT). Flat-panel liquid crystal displays (LCDs) for computer
monitors and flat-screen televisions are the leading application
for In, consuming more than 50 % of the world primary output
of In (Bleiwas, 2010). Thin films of ITO are also used in organic
light-emitting diodes and solar cells. About 8 % of In is applied
for alloys and solders (Buchert et al., 2009). Indium
antimonide, indium arsenide and indium nitride are
semiconductors with useful properties. Indium is used in the
synthesis of the semiconductor copper indium gallium selenide
(CIGS), which is applied for the manufacture of thin film solar
cells. Indium in solar cells is a relatively new application with
strong growth potential (Tolcin, 2008).
The report of the Ad-hoc working group at the Raw Materials
Supply Group at the European Comission estimates that In is
to be regarded as one of the most critical metals in the next
years due to rapid demand growth as well as serious supply
risks, combined with moderate recycling restrictions and
difficulties in substitution with non-critical metals (European
Commission, 2010).
Resource base, production amounts, current
and future demand
The major future development and deployment of
photovoltaic cells and wind turbines will depend seriously on
the availability of 8 significant elements, and In is among them
(Öhrlund, 2011).
Indium’s abundance in the continental crust is estimated to
be approximately 0.05 part per million (ppm). Trace amounts of
indium occur in base metal sulfides. Indium is most commonly
recovered from sphalerite. The average In content of Zn
deposits from which it is recovered ranges from less than 1 to
100 ppm. Around 0,028 kg byproduct In can be recovered from
1 t Zn ore (Jorgenson and George, 2005). Extraction of In on
the mining side is dependent on the development in Zn mining
A nanocomposite material, based on tin indium oxide (SnO2–
In2O3) and graphene nanosheet (GNS) synthesized via a facile
solvothermal method, has been proposed as anode material
for lithium ion batteries (Yanga et al, 2013). As an anode for
159
sector and this could be a bottleneck. Although the
geochemical properties of In are such that it occurs with other
base metals – Cu, lead (Pb), and tin (Sn), and to a lesser
extent with bismuth (Bi), cadmium (Cd), and silver (Ag), most
deposits of these metals are sub-economic for In extraction.
Vein stock work deposits of Sn and tungsten host the highest
known concentrations of In. However, it is usually difficult to
recover economically In from this type of deposit (USGS, 2012;
USGS, 2013). The U.S. Geological Survey estimated the world
In reserves to be around 11000 t in 2007. However, the USGS
report from 2013 states that for the present quantitative
estimates of the reserves are not available (USGS, 2013).
Chinese mines convey 50 % of world’s primary In, followed by
Canada (15 %). Japan produces about 18 % of In. It does not
possess natural In reserves but has a well developed recycling
system (Tolcin, 2008).
also, a small portion of In and arsenic (As) from the residues.
In the next step, soda is added to the remaining filtrate to
precipitate the majority of In. The precipitate is leached with
NaOH solution to create crude indium hydroxide (In(OH)3),
containing 20 % In, 6 % Zn, 1.5–3 % As, and 0.5–2 % Cd. The
crude In(OH)3 is leached with dilute HCl. The In solution is
purified by cementation of Cu and As with Fe, followed by
cementation of Sn and Pb with In. Finally, to remove In, Al is
added to create indium cement (Felix, 2002).
In Teck Cominco Ltd., one of the world’s largest In
producers, indium is recovered from gaseous streams from the
integrated Zn and Pb production. Fumes and other particulates
from the lead smelter are transferred to the Zn facilities for
hydrometallurgical separation. Fumes generally contain only
0.05–0.2 % In or Ge. They are leached to extract In and Ge
into solution (along with Zn and Cd) in order to separate them
from the lead sulfate residue. After the first leaching, slurry is
settled to remove a lead oxide residue which is pumped back
into the Pb smelter, and the clear solution is passed on to the
further stage. There, the slurry is partially neutralized with
direct fume addition and ferric iron to precipitate Ge, In, As and
antimony (Sb). This precipitate is the feed for the indium /
germanium recovery plant. There it is re-leached with H2SO4 to
dissolve the contained Ge and In. After filtration, the clear
solution is processed in a solvent extraction (SX) unit where
both metals are recovered and subsequently re-precipitated to
a product for further purification (Felix, 2002).
End use of In grew continuously over the last 20 years.
Production of ITO continues to be the leading end use of In
and accounts for most global In consumption (USGS, 2012).
The market for LCD applications is still growing rapidly. The
ITO demand is also driven through the tendency towards
bigger screen sizes which causes the need for more ITO per
unit. Indium-containing thin film applications in the photovoltaic
industry (CIGS) push demand further on. Installed global solar
capacity is estimated to grow at the rate of 30 – 35 % each
year till 2020 (Metal Pages, 2008). The Öko-Institut e.V.
suggests the range of the total annual In demand until 2020
between 5 % and 10 % (Buchert et al., 2009).
Sometimes it is difficult to recover In from leaching solution
with solvent extraction directly because of the high Fe and low
In concentrations in leachate. A successful attempt was made
to develop a new process to recover In from the pressure
oxidative leaching liquor bearing In. Indium was first enriched
by the precipitation method using sodium tripolyphosphate
(Na5P3O10). The resulting precipitate was dissolved by using
subsequently NaOH solution and hot H2SO4 solution
respectively, and then the solution was subjected to solvent
extraction and cementation using Zn powder for the recovery
of In. Total recovery ratio of In from pressure oxidative leaching
liquor, bearing In, was more than 95 % (Jiang et al., 2011).
Extraction of indium from raw materials
Sometimes, In is extracted directly from sphalerite by the
following steps: firstly, In is extracted into solution by pressure
acid leaching, then Fe3+ is removed by the method of jarosite
precipitation, and In goes into jarosite. Thus formed jarosite is
dissolved using hot H2SO4 solution. In some cases In is directly
extracted from leach solution by (bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric
acid - D2EHPA (Li et al, 2010).
Generally speaking, In is produced mainly by leaching with
hydrochloric acid (HCl) or sulfuric acid (H2SO4) of dusts,
fumes, residues, and slag from Zn and Pb-Zn smelting. The
solutions are concentrated, and In is recovered as 99+ %
metal. Then it is refined to standard-grade (99.99 %) and
higher purity metal (Rudnick and Gao, 2004).
Recycling of indium
Pre-consumer scrap
Precise data on the quantity of secondary In recovered from
scrap are not available. Indium is most commonly recovered
from ITO. Sputtering, the process in which ITO is deposited as
a thin-film coating onto a substrate, is highly inefficient
process; only approximately 30 % of an ITO target material is
deposited onto the substrate. The remaining 70 % represent
spent ITO target material, the grinding sludge, and the afterprocessing residue left on the walls of the sputtering chamber
(Böni and Widmer, 2011). This indicates the potential amount
of pre-consumer scrap accumulating at the production sites.
ITO recycling is concentrated in China, Japan, and the
Republic of Korea - the countries where ITO production and
sputtering take place. From sputtering waste, In can be
recovered by leaching and precipitation (Lee, 2007).
In the imperial smelting process (ISP), only a limited part of
the In is slagged off owing to its affinity for Pb, absence of
affinity for Fe, and the strong reducing properties of the metal.
About 50 % of the In is lost to lead bullion in ISP; the rest
resides in the Zn residue, where it is recovered from those
plants that operate a complete refinery unit. While the
pyrometallurgical processes are not conducive to the recovery
of In, roasting in a rotary furnace can be used for selectively
fuming the metal.
In the electrolytic process for Zn refining In is concentrated in
the neutral leach residue from the Zn plant. The residue is
roasted to produce secondary zinc oxide. Zinc oxide is first
leached with dilute H2SO4 to remove Zn, and the residue is
leached again with dilute HCl to remove most of the lead and
160
Recovery of In from the etching waste from plants
manufacturing liquid crystal displays was proposed. The
etching waste was obtained by neutralization of an etching
solution from the patterning process of TCO substrate, which
was filtered and dried by filter press to obtain the etching cake.
Initially, major impurities, such as Al, Mo, Cr, and Mg, were
removed by dissolution using NaOH. The filtered cake was
dissolved in concentrated HCl solution and the obtained filtrate
was subjected to solvent extraction (PC88A was used as an
extractant). PC88A extracts In, Al, Mo, and Fe from the HCl
medium, but In can be selectively stripped from the loaded
solvent. The resulting In solution was further purified to metal
by electrolytic refining and the final purity of the In metal was
99.997 % (Kang, et al., 2011).
HCl from D2EHPA with A/O ratio of 1:5. The final extraction
efficiency achieved was more than 97%.
A process combining pyrolysis at 450 ◦C and hydrometallurgy of the solid residue from the pyrolysis was proposed
for recovering of In from the waste LCDs (Wang et al., 2013).
The polarizing film was treated by pyrolysis and then indium
was recovered from the glass by sulfuric acid immersion at a
recovery close to 100%.
A new technique for the treatment of waste ITO-glass using
aminopolycarboxylate chelants – APCs (such as EDTA or NTA)
in combination with a mechano-chemical treatment (i.e. cogrinding with suitable additives) process has been proposed
(Hasegawa et al., 2013a). APCs are forming stable complexes
with the indium deposited on the ITO-glass, however the rate
of recovery was not satisfying. The mechano-chemical
treatment facilitates the destruction of crystalline structure with
which the ITO fragments are attached and thus helps to
achieve increased indium dissolution by the chelants. The
processing time of vitrified ITO-glass is decreased in this way.
The extraction of indium was better at the acidic condition (pH
5), and it was further intensified when the operating
temperature was raised to ≥120 °C. Further, the reclamation of
indium from the non-ground LCD-waste was studied using
aminopolycarboxylate chelants (APCs) as the solvent in a
hyperbaric environment and at a high-temperature. Microwave
irradiation was used to facilitate the process, and ≥80%
abstraction of indium from the LCD-waste with the APCs
(EDTA or NTA) was achieved in the acidic pH region (up to pH
5) at the temperature of ≥120 ◦C and the pressure of ∼50 bar
(Hasegawa et al., 2013b).
Post consumer waste
A hydrometallurgical method was proposed for recovering of
Pb, Sn and In from alloy wire scrap containing these metals by
acid/alkali leaching. The scrap material was leached with hot
HCl–HNO3 solution. Upon cooling down to 10 °C, 71.8 % of
the initially present Pb was separated as lead chloride. About
23 % of the remaining Pb content was recovered by
cementation with In powder at 45 °C. Tin was recovered from
the acidic solution as hydrated tin oxide by using NaOH at pH
2.0–2.8. Indium was recovered from the remaining solution by
two different methods. The first method involved precipitation
of In as phosphate using H3PO4 at pH 3.9 and subsequent
conversion of phosphate into oxide by leaching with NaOH
solution. In the second method, sponge metallic In was
recovered by cementation with Zn powder at 30 °C. Lead, Sn
and In, having purities of >99.0, 99.7 and 99.8 %, respectively,
were obtained. The recovery of these metals was found to be
94.7, 99.5 and 99.7 %, respectively (Barakat, 1998).
A chloride volatilization process using polyvinyl chloride
(PVC) as the chlorination agent was designed to recover In
from indium oxide (In2O3) and LCDs powder. The recovery of
In from In2O3 was 96.6 %, but with LCDs powder, only 54 % In
was recovered (Park et al., 2009).
A hydrometallurgical process was developed for the recovery
of In metal from ITO targets, which includes acid leaching,
removing Sn from leach solution by sulphide precipitation and
depositing sponge In by Zn cementation. The leaching of In
reached 99 % with ITO powder size of less than 75 m and
initial acid concentration of 100 g/L H2SO4 at 90 °C for 2 h,
while only about 8 % of Sn was leached out. Tin in the leach
solution was reduced to 10 mg/L by sulphide precipitation
under H2S partial pressure of 101.3 KPa and 100 g/L H2SO4 at
60 °C. Pure sponge In from purified In2(SO4)3 solution was
obtained using Zn plate cementation at pH 1–1.5 and 65 °C (Li
et al., 2011).
Industrial scale recycling facility for In-containing postconsumer scrap are only partly installed and initiated, e.g. by
pyrometallurgical method in Belgium by Umicore (Hagelüken,
2008; Oosterhof, 2011).
One problematic aspect is the lack of a focused collection
and reconditioning of indium-containing products in many
regions of the world. The dissipative and widespread
applications of In in electric and electronic equipment (EEE)
and solar cells mean a challenge regarding recycling logistics
and need of the development of a suitable legal framework.
Currently recycling of In from LCDs and solar cells is not
sufficiently economic, but nevertheless important.
A flow sheet has been proposed for recovery of In from LCD
screen wastes. It includes dissolving ITO into 1 M solution of
H2SO4, then extracting In and Sn by D2EHPA followed by
selective stripping of In into 1.5 M of HCl. With this process,
HCl solution containing 12.2 g/L of In could be achieved
(Virolainen et al., 2011).
Both the recycling rate of end of life consumer products and
of old scrap recycling is less than 1 % at worldwide level
(UNEP, 2011).
Recovery of indium from scrap TFT-LCDs has been
proposed (Ruan et al., 2012). The In from the waste material
was better leached in H2SO4 (1:1, v/v) acid solution at the
optimal liquid/solid ratio of 1:1, while other metals’ leaching
concentrations were relatively low. Indium then was selectively
extracted from its H2SO4 solutions by 30% D2EHPA with O/A
ratio of 1:5 within 5 min, and was completely stripped by 4M
Byproducts, residues, solid waste and effluents from raw
materials processing and water treatment
A number of smelters and flotation factories have
accumulated large amounts of tailings and slags over the years
and continue to do so. These critical metals-containing
161
materials are more difficult and thus more expensive to treat.
However, they can be treated if demand and price warrants.
For example, the total residue reserves worldwide amount to
over 15000 t of In and another 500 t of In is generated every
year in residue form (Mikolajczak, 2009). Indium recovery from
tailings was thought to have been insignificant, as these
wastes contain low amounts of the metal and can be difficult to
process. However, recent improvements to the process
technology have made In recovery from tailings viable when its
price is high (Buchert et al., 2009).
eluted by HCl solution (0.5–2.0 mol/L), and the recovery was
over 98.9 % (Yuan et al., 2010).
The calix[6]arene based cation exchange resins have been
developed and successfully tested for selective recovery of In
from acid effluents containing substantial quantity of Zn and
Fe. The extracted In was easily and almost quantitatively back
extracted with dilute HCl solution and the extractant was
regenerated without any physical/chemical damage. Preconcentration and mutual separation of In from Zn was
achieved using the column separation technique (Babu et al.,
2012).
Zinc leaching residue was processes by combining flotation,
reduction roasting and magnetic separation. Silver concentrate
grading 3902.1 g/t and having Ag recovery of 77.75 % was
obtained by flotation. The volatilization rates of Zn, Pb and In
higher than 96 % were obtained by a reduction roasting of the
flotation tailings at a temperature of 1100 oC using coal as
reducer (Zhucheng, et al. 2007).
Recovery of In from the real etching wastewater obtained
from ITO etching process has been proposed. The method is
based on chelation - supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2)
extraction. The applied chelating agent was 2,2-dimethyl6,6,7,7,8,8,8-heptafluoro-3,5-octanedione
(HFOD).
The
percentage of In recovery from etching wastewater was over
90.8 % (Liu et al. 2009).
A technology for recovering In from copper-smelting ash was
developed. Indium in the ash was first transformed to the
leaching-slag in leaching process, and then recovered by
sulfating roasting. The leaching-slag was mixed with sulfuric
acid, the mixture was roasted, and then the calcine was
leached with hot water. Above 90 % of In in calcine could be
dissolved into the leaching solution. Over 99 % of In in
leaching solution was finally enriched by Zn substitution or
sulfide precipitation (Zhu et al., 2007).
The etching waste solution from the fabrication process of
flat-panel displays (FPDs) contains about 2% of indium. A
technique is developed for the selective recovery of indium
from the etching waste, which is produced during the
patterning of indium tin oxide (ITO) layer on the flat-panel
displays (Hasegawa et al., 2013c). The process includes the
application of a solid phase extraction (SPE) assembly, known
as molecular recognition technology (MRT) gel, consisting of a
metal-selective ligand immobilized to silica gel or polymer
substrates. Several commercial SPE-types (TE 02, TE 03, TE
07, TE 13, PM 02, C 100, PA 1, PB 1, SC 1, SA 1) were
evaluated for their ability to separate selectively indium from
the matrix elements. The indium retention or recovery with TE
02 MRT-SPE from the real etching waste solution was in the
range of 97 to 99%. A three-step elution with 0.3 mol/L HNO3,
6 mol/L HCl and 1 mol /L HCl/10 mmol/L EDTA was required to
accomplish the sequential selectivity in the process.
Slag coming from Zn clinker process and containing In up to
700-850 g/t is leached by two-step acid leaching process. The
In leaching rate reaches over 90 % in the whole process.
Tertiary and adverse current extractions were applied leading
to In extraction rates over 98.5 % and 99 % respectively in the
whole process (Lin and Liu, 2006).
Previously abandoned Zn smelter slag and leaching residue
were calcined at high temperature and zinc oxide flue dust
(ZOFD) was obtained which contains 0.1-0.3 % In. Indium was
recovered from ZOFD with H2SO4 by oxidative pressure
leaching in an autoclave. Potassium permanganate and
hydrogen peroxide were used as oxidants. The experimental
results showed that the leaching rate of In can be effectively
improved by oxidative pressure leaching. Leaching rate of In
was higher than 90 %, which was an increase of 13 %
compared with that of atmospheric pressure leaching process
without oxidant (Li et al., 2010a).
Extraction of strategic materials from the concentrated brine,
rejected by a desalination unit based on RO has been
proposed. The first step is extraction of phosphorus through
purification by alum. The next step is the recovery of caesium
through a liquid–liquid extraction approach, based on the use
of Calixarenes. Indium and Ga were then recovered by another
liquid–liquid extraction with the help of organic acids. Three
different acids (bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid - D2EHPA, 2ethylhexyl phosphonic acid mono-2-ethylhexyl ester - EHPNA
and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphinic acid - PIA-226) diluted in
kerosene were applied. Organic phase was stripped with HCl
solution by countercurrent process of 15 stages. Indium with a
purity of 97.4 % and Ga with a purity of 99.8 % were recovered
from the chloride solution (Le Dirach et al., 2010).
Secondary pyrite tailings were treated by using an oxidizingreducing roasting technological flow sheet. It turned out that
the two-stage oxidizing roasting technology is suitable for
eliminating S and As. The material was enriched in Fe more
than 64 % after treatment at temperature over 600 - 700 oC.
Then, at reducing roasting at temperature of 1100 oC several
valuable metals were recovered, among them – In (Gu et al.,
2010).
Municipal solid waste bears rare elements, among them – In
(Morf et al., 2013). The total content of indium in the MSWinput processed in the SWI in Hinwil, Switzerland, in 2010 is
0.29 mg/kg. The estimated annual flow of indium in the waste
input of the same plant is 58 kilograms/year. Indium is
concentrated mainly in the non-ferrous fraction <5 mm (14.5
mg/kg) and in the ash from the electrical precipitators - ESPAsh (6.8 mg/kg). This is why ESP-ash may be interesting for
the recovery of In.
Indium (III) has been extracted from H2SO4 system at pH 1.5
by adsorption on coated solvent impregnated resins (CSIRs),
which had been prepared by the formation of PVA–boric acid
protective layer on solvent impregnated resins (SIRs)
containing 2-ethylhexyl phosphoric acid mono (2-ethylhexyl)
ester (EHEHPA). The In loaded on CSIRs was effectively
162
Conclusions
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liquid-crystal
display
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aminopolycarboxylate chelants with the aid of
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Hasegawa H., Rahman I. M.M. , Egawa Y., Sawai H., Begum
Z.A., Makia T., Mizutanid S. 2013b. Chelant-induced
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panels with the aid of microwave irradiation. Journal of
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Hasegawa H., Rahman I. M.M. , Umehara Y., Sawai H, Maki T.,
Furusho Y., Mizutani, S. 2013c. Selective recovery of
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Jiang J., Liang D., Zhong Q. 2011. Precipitation of indium
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Jorgenson J.D., George M.W. 2005. Mineral commodity profile,
Indium. Open-File Report 2004-1300, U.S. Geological
Survey, Reston, Virginia.
Kang H.N., Lee J.Y., Kim J.Y. 2011. Recovery of indium from
etching waste by solvent extraction and electrolytic
refining. Hydrometallurgy 110, 120–127.
Le Dirach J., Nisan S., Poletiko C. 2005. Extraction of strategic
materials from the concentrated brine rejected by
integrated nuclear desalination systems. Desalination 182,
449–460.
Lee C., Peng Y., Tsai S. 2007. A method for the recovery of
indium-tin-oxides coating from scrap glass substrate.
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Li C., Wei C., Xu H., Deng Z., Liao J., Li X., Li, M. 2010.
Kinetics of indium dissolution from sphalerite concentrate
in pressure acid leaching. Hydrometallurgy 105, 172–175.
Li X., Zhang Y., Qin Q., Yang J., Wew Y. 2010a Indium
recovery from zinc oxide flue dust by oxidative pressure
leaching. Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of
China 20, 141-145.
Li Y., Liu Z., Li Q., Liu Z., Zeng L. 2011. Recovery of indium
from used indium–tin oxide (ITO) targets. Hydrometallurgy
105, 207–212.
Lin W., Liu Q. 2006. Study on leaching and extracting Indium
from Zinc clinker. Journal of Kunming University of Science
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Metal Pages 2008. Behind the quite face of Indium, 06-262008, www.metalpages.com.
Mikolajczak C. 2009. Availability of Indium and Gallium. Metals
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Morf L.S., Gloor R., Haag O., Haupt M., Skutan S., Lorenzo
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The economic development, communications, renewable
energy technologies, and our every-day comfort dependent on
supply of many critical materials - among them In is very
important.
Recycling of manufacturing waste and of post-consumer
products is a significant source of In. It needs establishment
and enlargement of recycling capacities including efficient
collection system, development and realization of new
recycling technologies and drawing attention of the public to
the importance of recycling of special metals. However, we
have not to forget that recycling decreases but not stops
depletion of metals.
Use of unconventional sources, such as by-products,
residues, old mine dumps, tailings, solid waste and effluents
from raw materials’ processing and water treatment can help in
securing future availability of high tech metals. In general,
those materials bear indium in amounts higher than the
primary sources, and in the case of solid-phase sources the
material is already mined out and crushed.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the project FK-012/2013 at the
University of Mining and Geology – Regulation No 9 for
Scientific and Research Projects.
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