SBIR Phase I: Gallium and Germanium Recovery from Acidic and Alkaline Ore Leaches with Selective Silica-Polyamine Composites

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop advanced materials for the separation and concentration of germanium and gallium from both acidic and basic ore leaches. The primary objective of the project will be to develop synthetic routes for grafting polyamines to silica particles resulting in composite material that provide an excellent platform for immobilizing metal selective ligands on a matrix is resistant to acids and bases and elevated temperatures. This should permit germanium and gallium loadings and usable materials lifetimes that are superior to current technologies. The development of more efficient means of extracting these metals will result in the exploitation of germanium and gallium deposits in the United States that cannot be currently developed due to the limited availability of economically viable and environmentally benign ore processing protocols