Yttrium and europium separation by solvent extraction with undiluted thiocyanate ionic liquids.

An yttrium/europium oxide obtained by the processing of fluorescent lamp waste powder was separated into its individual elements by solvent extraction with two undiluted ionic liquids, trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium thiocyanate, [C101][SCN], and tricaprylmethylammonium thiocyanate, [A336][SCN]. The best extraction performances were observed for [C101][SCN], by using an organic-to-aqueous volume ratio of 1/10 and four counter-current extraction stages. The loaded organic phase was afterwards subjected to scrubbing with a solution of 3 mol L-1 CaCl2 + 0.8 mol L-1 NH4SCN to remove the co-extracted europium. Yttrium was quantitatively stripped from the scrubbed organic phase by deionized water. Yttrium and europium were finally recovered as hydroxides by precipitation with ammonia and then calcined to the corresponding oxides. The conditions thus defined for an efficient yttrium/europium separation from synthetic chloride solutions were afterwards tested on a leachate obtained from the dissolution of a real mixed oxide. The purity of Y2O3 with respect to the rare-earth content was 98.2%; the purity of Eu2O3 with respect to calcium was 98.7%.

Process development for the separation and recovery of Mo and Co from chloride leach liquors of petroleum refining catalyst by solvent extraction.

The separation and recovery of Mo and Co from the synthetic chloride leach liquors of petroleum refining catalyst has been investigated by employing TOPO and Alamine 308 as extractants. The synthetic leach liquor contained Mo 394 mg/L, Al 1782 mg/L, Co 119 mg/L in 3 M HCl. The separation of Mo from Co and Al was achieved with 0.05 M TOPO in Escaid 110 and complete stripping of Mo was attained with combination of 0.1M NH(4)OH and 0.05 M (NH(4))(2)CO(3). After separation of molybdenum, cobalt can be selectively extracted by Alamine 308 from Mo free raffinate after adjusting the concentration of chloride ion to 5 M by adding AlCl(3). The back-extraction of cobalt was obtained easily from loaded Alamine 308 with acidified water (pH=1.0). McCabe-Thiele diagrams were constructed from the extraction and stripping experiments of each element (Mo and Co). From the batch simulation of the counter-current extraction and stripping experiments, it was confirmed that Mo and Co recovery of 99.4% and 99.1% respectively was obtained from the synthetic leach liquor of the chloride solutions. Finally a hydrometallurgical process flow sheet was developed.