Patent 7338589 was granted and assigned to Council of Scientific and Industrial Research on March, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The present invention relates to a process for the recovery of gallium from Bayer process liquors. Bayer process liquor is obtained from alumina industries and contains 450 g/L Na2O, 80 g/L Al2O3 and 190±20 ppm of gallium. The present invention utilizes an organic and inorganic phase for a two stage separation process to recover gallium with high purity.