Purification of InCl₃electrolyte by ion exchange

Abstract

Impurities in InCl 3 electrolyte increase during the course of continuous electrolytic refining of indium and affect the achievable purity of indium. In order to remove impurities, a method of purifying InCl 3 electrolyte by ion exchange was investigated and the theoretical possibility of removing impurities by ion exchange is described in the present paper. It is shown that InCl 3 electrolyte can be purified by basic anion exchange resin 717 (R;N.Cl 2 ). The optimum experimental conditions are as follows: indium 50-100 g L 21 , hydrochloric acid 0 . 1 mol L 21 and space velocity 1 m 3 m 23 h 21 . The purity in InCl 3 electrolyte can exceed 99 . 96% after purification by resin 717. Therefore, resin 717 is suggested as an excellent adsorption agent for purification of InCl 3 electrolyte.