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Application of vacuum distillation in refining crude indium

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Abstract

Vacuum distillation is a technique suitable for low boiling and melting point materials, to remove the heavy and low vapor pressure impurities at low level. As indium has low melting point and high boiling point, it is suitable for refining by vacuum distillation. First, saturation vapor pressure for major elements in crude indium was calculated by the Clausius–Clay Prang equation, which could approximately predict the temperature and pressure during vacuum distillation process. Second, the activity coefficients for In–Cd, In–Zn, In–Pb, In–Tl at 1373 K, and In–Sn at 1573 K were acquired by means of molecular interaction on volume model. Vapor–liquid equilibrium composition diagrams of those above systems in crude indium were drawn based on activity coefficients. These diagrams could estimate the compositions of products in each process during the refinement of crude indium. Finally, 1.2–1.6 ton crude indium was used per day when vacuum distillation experiments were carried out, and experimental results are in good agreement with the predicted values of the vapor–liquid equilibrium composition diagrams.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51104079 and U1202271) and the Fundamental Research of Yunnan Province (No. 2013FZ033).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The National Engineering Laboratory for Vacuum Metallurgy, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650093, China

    Wen-Long Jiang, Yong Deng, Bin Yang, Da-Chun Liu, Yong-Nian Dai & Bao-Qiang Xu

  2. State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Complex Nonferrous Metal Resources Clear Utilization in Yunnan Province, Kunming, 650093, China

    Wen-Long Jiang, Yong Deng, Bin Yang, Da-Chun Liu, Yong-Nian Dai & Bao-Qiang Xu

  3. Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Vacuum Metallurgy, Kunming, 650093, China

    Wen-Long Jiang, Yong Deng, Bin Yang, Da-Chun Liu, Yong-Nian Dai & Bao-Qiang Xu

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  1. Wen-Long Jiang
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  2. Yong Deng
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  3. Bin Yang
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  4. Da-Chun Liu
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  5. Yong-Nian Dai
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  6. Bao-Qiang Xu
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Correspondence to Bin Yang.

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Jiang, WL., Deng, Y., Yang, B. et al. Application of vacuum distillation in refining crude indium. Rare Met. 32, 627–631 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-013-0169-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-013-0169-z

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