What looks like value addition can sometimes destroy value—especially in germanium lens scrap.

When recycling germanium lenses, size matters. Larger pieces are significantly easier to test and verify, while small fragments can be misleading—sometimes containing low-value materials such as silicon, selenium, or arsenic-based glass.

We recently tried to increase value by melting germanium scrap in an induction furnace to form larger, testable ingots.
However, the result was the opposite:

• The lenses carried coatings (often multi-layer, sometimes indium-based or other compounds)
• During melting, these coatings alloyed with the germanium
• The final material became harder to refine and less attractive to the refiner
• Result: significantly lower settlement

Bottom line:
Do not melt or “upgrade” germanium lens scrap
Send the material as-is to the refiner
Let the refinery handle separation under controlled conditions

In high-value scrap, the smartest move is often not to touch the material at all.