Report of Investigations 9588: Recovering Cadmium and Tellurium from Thin-Film Photovoltalc Device Scrap

Details

• Journal Article:
  Salt Lake City, UT: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, RI 9588
• Personal Author:
  Palmer, Glenn R. ; Tolley, William K.
• Description:
  The U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) is investigating hydrometallurgical processing techniques to recycle metals from semiconductors and other advanced materials. Cadmium amd tellurium were recovered from mixed CdTe/CdS scrap produced in the manufacture of thin-film photovoltaic devices. Leaching the scrap for 90 min at 110 deg. C in 2.2Normal H2SO4 under 400 psig O2 yielded 97% Cd extraction; however, cadmium content of the residue ranged between 4% and 7%. Soluble iron was added to the lixiviant to catalyze oxidation of the CdS component. Tellurium and sulfur remained in the leach residue primarily in the elemental form. The iron and tellurium were removed from the cadmium-rich leach liquor by adjusting the pH to 5.3. The cadmium was recovered as cadmium sulfate crystals by evaporating the solution. Alternative leaching and purification schemes are discussed. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Cadmium Occupational Health Recycling Safety Waste Management
• Keywords:
  Semiconductors-materials; Materials-recovery; Thin-films; Photovoltaic-cells; Leaching; Purification; Hydrometallurgy; Metal-recycling; Cadmium; Tellurium
• Source:
  Salt Lake City, UT: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, RI 9588, 1995 Jan; :1-24
• Series:
  NIOSH Numbered Publications   ; Mining Publications  
• Subseries:
  Report of Investigations
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 8 ; Utah
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  SLRC - Salt Lake City Research Center
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  29 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:10005909
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB96-125372
• CAS Registry Number:
  Cadmium (CAS RN 7440-43-9) ; Tellurium (CAS RN 13494-80-9)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1995
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9ff3bbd0f3b8c29190b929b96642572bb692b44d3fe5a5ee9673d0b3268fe30985f3ede1570ac76637624d439724e563df52a2688e27b7f1bc554dd76c58cad7
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/10219/cdc_10219_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 509.88 KB ]