Indium Sorption to Iron Oxides

Abstract:

Indium is an increasingly important metal in semiconductors and electronics, and its use is growing rapidly as a semiconductive coating (as indium tin oxide) for liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and flat panel displays. It also has uses in important energy technologies such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) and photovoltaic cells. Despite its rapid increase in use, very little is known about the environmental behavior of indium, and concerns are being raised over the potential health effects of this emerging metal contaminant.

One source of indium to the environment is acid mine drainage from the mining of lead, zinc, and copper sulfides. In our previous studies of a stream in Colorado influenced by acid mine drainage from lead and zinc mining activities, indium concentrations were found to be 10,000 times those found in uncontaminated rivers. However, the speciation and mobility of indium could not be reliably modeled because sorption constants to environmental sorbents have not been determined. In this study, we generate sorption constants for indium to ferrihydrite in the laboratory over a range of pHs, sorbent to sorbate ratios, and ionic strengths. Ferrihydrite is one of the most important sorbents in natural systems, and sorption to amorphous iron oxides such as ferrihydrite is thought to be one of the main removal mechanisms of metals from the dissolved phase in aqueous environments. Because of its relatively low solubility, we also find that indium hydroxide precipitation can dominate indium’s partitioning at micromolar concentrations of indium. This precipitation may be important in describing indium’s behavior in our study stream in Colorado, where modeling sorption to iron-oxides does not explain the complete removal of indium from the dissolved phase when the pH of the system is artificially raised to above 8. This study contributes much-needed data about indium’s aqueous behavior, in order to better understand its fate, transport, and impacts in the environment.