ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal
This is a page describing data taken during an experiment at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source. Information about the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source can be found at https://www.isis.stfc.ac.uk.
Hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents for the recovery of gallium from zinc mine tailings
Abstract: Global demand for gallium is rapidly increasing, due to its applications in electronic devices. Challenges in gallium supply are caused by the lack of gallium ore; this metal is recovered as a secondary element from mine tailings of other metal industries, chiefly aluminium, although recovery from zinc mine tailings is also possible. 90% of UK's gallium supply comes from China, 8% from Russia and only 2% from UK, posing a serious threat to the supply chain. While China and Russia use aluminium tailings to produce gallium, secure supply for the UK/EU markets would be best served by leveraging on UK/EU zinc mines. Our group developed a family of hydrophobic DES based on a metal-extracting agent, trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO), some of them efficient in selective separation of very dilute gallium from the zinc leachate (waste from zinc mining). The best performance was achieved with DES comprised of TOPO and malonic acid, in contrast to a very similar formulation of TOPO and levulinic acid. Here, we propose the study of these two hydrophobic DES formulations based on TOPO, with and without gallium chloride, in order to understand the difference between the structure of the two DES, and its influence on the mechanism governing selective separation.
Principal Investigator: Professor Gosia Swadzba-Kwasny
Experimenter: Miss Kerri McKeever
Experimenter: Professor John Holbrey
Experimenter: Ms Malka Urooj
Local Contact: Dr Zachary Amato
Experimenter: Miss Beth Murray
Experimenter: Mr Suraj Ghai
Experimenter: Mr Pranav Sharda
Experimenter: Miss Maebh Fitzsimons
DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2510509
ISIS Experiment Number: RB2510509
| Part DOI | Instrument | Public release date | Download Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2510509-1 | SANDALS | 23 May 2028 | Download |
Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source
Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation
The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research
publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher],
[doi]
For Example:
Professor Gosia Swadzba-Kwasny et al; (2025): Hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents for the recovery of gallium from zinc mine tailings, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2510509
Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.
