This method is based on the principle based on the principle that the impurities are more soluble in the melt than in the solid state of the metal. A circular mobile heater is fixed at one end of a rod of the impure metal.
Themolten zone moves along with the heater which is moved forward.
As the heater moves forward, the pure metal crystallises out of the melt and the impurities pass on into the adjacent molten zone.
Semiconductors such as germanium, silicon and gallium are refined by zone refining.