Review of Germanium Recovery Technologies from Coal

Abstract

This paper summarizes the Ge recovery technologies from coal, the traditional treating process is firstly introduced, which is burning and recycle burning the coal for Ge enrichment in the fly ash and then Ge is recovered by Chloride distillation method. The process material balance is calculated as followed. Different hydrometallurgical methods for Ge recovery from ash are compared for the advantage and disadvantage. The other methods like microbial leaching and dry distillation are reviewed as well. Lastly, the drawbacks and development direction of Ge recovery from coal are predicted.