Indium Corporation has been awarded a $3.2 million grant from the US Department of Energy’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation to develop a domestic process for recovering high-purity gallium from manufacturing by-products. The company is one of five organizations selected under the DOE’s TRACE-Ga (Technology for Recovery and Advanced Critical-material Extraction–Gallium) initiative, which is targeting novel gallium recovery technologies from US metal processing feedstocks.
Work will be conducted at Indium Corporation’s Rome, New York facility, using electrochemical methods and advanced purification techniques to convert gallium-bearing production scraps—including residues from gallium trichloride, gallium acetylacetonate and gallium oxide manufacturing—into high-purity metallic gallium. The project runs in two phases: Phase 1 designs and validates a recovery prototype; Phase 2 scales the system to produce at least one metric ton of 4N-grade (99.99% pure) gallium per year, with capacity to expand beyond that as commercial demand grows.
The domestic supply gap is significant. The U.S. hasn’t produced gallium domestically since 1987 and currently imports 100% of its supply. Gallium is the base material for gallium nitride (GaN) power semiconductors, which are increasingly used in EV onboard chargers and inverters for their switching efficiency at high voltages. It also underpins gallium arsenide (GaAs) devices in radar and RF systems, and is used in LEDs and solar cells.
“This project marks an important step toward restoring domestic gallium production for the first time in nearly 40 years,” said Ross Berntson, President and CEO of Indium Corporation. “Our efforts will support the commercialization of innovative technologies, strengthen domestic critical minerals production, and advance supply chain independence.”
The TRACE-Ga initiative is managed by ENERGYWERX under a Partnership Intermediary Agreement with the DOE’s Office of Technology Commercialization.
Source: Indium Corporation
