Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant PJSC, Chelyabinsk, Russia:
K. M. Kozlov, Deputy Head of the Hydrometallurgical Plant (Operations)
N. A. Tryapitsyn, Head of the Hydrometallurgical Plant

Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant PJSC, Chelyabinsk, Russia¹ ; FSAEIHE "South Ural State University (NRU)", Chelyabinsk, Russia²:

A. G. Ryazanov, Leading Process Engineer of Engineering Centre¹, Postgraduate student², e-mail: agr@zinc.ru

Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant is the only producer of metallic indium from mineral raw materials in the Russian Federation. In today’s production conditions, a higher output and better quality of semiconductors are required. In order to meet current requirements of consumers that produce semiconductors for electronics, Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant developed a process to produce high-purity indium. A particular sequence of refining operations ensures the desired quality of indium. This includes bipolar electrorefining, chemical refining and vacuum/thermal refining. Adoption of the developed process only required minimum capital costs. All operations can be performed on the existing equipment of the rare metals section by adding a bipolar cell to the electrorefining line. A series of pilot tests was carried out at the existing facilities. High-purity indium metal In0000 — 99.9999% (In6N5) was obtained from the line’s standard product – i. e. the In00 (99.999 % In) grade of indium metal. The quality of the product was verified by an independent laboratory belonging to Giredmet JSC. The process was adopted by the Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant. The annual output reaches 600 kg.

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