Experimental validation of germanium recovery from aqueous electrolytes

Abstract A batch-type and lab-scale germanium recovery method was developed with proprietary emphases placed on electro-winning (EW) to investigate the mass-production capability and feasibility of economical and facile recovery of a germanium-enriched acidic leachate solution product from non-electrochemical hydrometallurgical recycling. Considering the inherent limitation of germanium recovery from an aqueous solution by electro-winning, an ICP-OES method was also applied as a supplement to provide quantitative information on germanium contents recovered over time. A 24-h electro-winning period under optimized conditions resulted in a 40 % recovery with an estimated area-specific metallic germanium deposition rate of 9.89 × 10 −6 g × (cm 2 × h) −1 . However, the electro-winning rate declined after 8 h, a phenomenon attributed to the dual effects of hydrogen evolution and the inherently slow kinetics of the electro-deposition of germanium. This short communication proprietarily contains technical contents on the electrodeposition method, procedure, and results which supplement and cast engineering insight into a previously published MP article on the optimization of germanium enrichment from waste optical fibers using a hybrid approach.