Oxidative dissolution of gallium arsenide and separation of gallium from arsenic

The method of recovering gallium from gallium arsenide which comprises reacting the gallium arsenide with an oxidizing agent selected from the group consisting of peroxides, chlorine, iodine, bromine, oxyhalides and nitric acid in the presence of a liquid comprising hydroxamic acid to form a gallium-hydroxamic acid complex.

The method of recovering gallium from gallium arsenide which comprises oxidizing the gallium arsenide with an oxidizing agent in the presence of a liquid comprising hydroxamic acid to convert the arsenide to an oxide of arsenic and to form a gallium-hydroxamic acid complex.

The method of recovering gallium from gallium arsenide which comprises oxidizing the gallium arsenide with an oxidizing agent in a liquid medium comprising an aqueous phase and an organic solvent phase containing a water insoluble N-organohydroxamic acid to obtain a gallium-N-organohydroxamic acid complex and to produce acids or arsenic selected from the group consisting of arsenous acid, arsenic acid, and mixtures thereof, separating the organic solvent phase containing the gallium-N-organohydroxamic acid complex from the aqueous phase containing the acids of arsenic, and mixing the separated organic solvent phase with an aqueous acid to strip gallium from the gallium-N-organohydroxamic acid complex wherein the stripped gallium is transferred from the organic solvent phase to the aqueous acid.

A composition comprising a hydroxamic acid in intimate contact with particulate gallium arsenide.

A composition which comprises an organic phase comprising a gallium-hydroxamic acid chelate and an aqueous phase comprising acids of arsenic selected from the group consisting of arsenous acid, arsenic acid, and mixtures thereof or their salt derivatives.

The method of separating gallium from arsenic in a reaction product mixture resulting from the oxidation of gallium arsenide with an oxidizing agent in the presence of water and a water insoluble N-organohydroxamic acid, which method comprises separating a water insoluble phase containing a gallium-N-organohydroxamic acid chelate which forms from N-organohydroxamic acid and gallium from an aqueous phase containing acids of arsenic.

The method of effecting oxidation of gallium arsenide which comprises contacting gallium arsenide with an oxidizing agent and a phosphorus complexing agent wherein the phosphorus complexing agent is selected from the group consisting of polybasic phosphates and compounds having two or more organophosphonate groups.

The method of separating gallium from a gallium arsenide compound which comprises oxidizing the gallium arsenide in the presence of water and a complexing agent to form a gallium-complexing agent complex, and extracting the gallium from the resulting aqueous solution with an N-organohydroxamic acid.

The method of recovering gallium from gallium arsenide which comprises oxidizing the gallium arsenide with an oxidizing agent in the presence of a water insoluble straight chain non-N-substituted hydroxamic acid dissolved in a water immiscible polar solvent to convert the arsenide to an oxide of arsenic and to form a gallium-non-N-substituted hydroxamic acid complex with the straight chain non-N-substituted hydroxamic acid and separating the resulting gasllium-non-N-substituted hydroxamic acid complex from the aqueous medium containing the arsenic compounds.