Indium recovery from indium tin oxide, ITO, thin film deposited on glass plate by chlorination treatment with ammonium chloride

Abstract

In the focus of selective recovery of indium from waste flat panel display, we have studied chlorination treatment where ammonium chloride, NH 4Cl, has been used as chlorination reagent. Glass plate on which ITO is deposited, denoted hereafter as ITO glass, has been employed as model sample. It was found that indium could be successfully recovered from ITO glass in the form of volatile indium chloride by heating the mixture of ITO and NH 4Cl at the temperature of 400°C under inert atmosphere. The influence of process parameters, such as treatment temperature, milling condition of ITO glass and composition of NH4Cl, was investigated in order to achieve high process efficiency. © 2011 The Japan Institute of Metals.