Application of bifunctional ionic liquids for extraction and separation of Eu^(3+) from chloride medium

The extraction of Eu^(3+)from chloride medium using bifunctional ionic liquid extractants(Bif-ILEs)tri-n-octylmethyl ammonium bis(2-ethyl hexyl)phosphate([A336][D2EHP])and trihexyltetradecyl phosphonium bis(2-ethylhexyl)phosphate([P_(66614)][D2EHP])in kerosene was studied to develop environmentally friendly extraction process.The extraction behavior of Eu^(3+)was examined by varying key process parameters.The extraction behavior indicates that ammonium-based ionic liquid[A336][D2EHP]shows better extraction efficiency of Eu^(3+)than that of phosphonium-based ionic liquid[P_(66614)][D2EHP].Quantitative extraction of Eu^(3+)is obtained with 0.05 mol/L[A336][D2EHP],whereas,0.1 mol/L of[P_(66614)][D2EHP]is required to achieve the same extraction rate of Eu^(3+).The extraction process is endothermic with respect to[A336][D2EHP].Stripping experiments indicate that 100%of Eu^(3+)can be back extracted from both the loaded ionic liquids using 20 vol.%HNO_(3).The highest separation factor(βY/Eu)of 653.59 is reported at pH of 3.2,and the separation factor of Eu^(3+)over La^(3+)is 30.6 at the same pH.From the leach liquors of waste tube light powder,99.98%of Eu and 99.99%Y are recovered using 0.2 mol/L[A336][D2EHP]in 2-stage cross current extraction with aqueous to organcic ratio(O/A)of 1:1 and 1:2.

Extraction mechanism of cerium(Ⅳ) in H_2SO_4/H_3PO_4 system using bifunctional ionic liquid extractants

The extraction of Ce（Ⅳ） in H2SO4/H3PO4 system was investigated systematically using bifunctional ionic liquid extractants（Bif-ILES） [A336][P507],[A336][P204] and [A336][C272] in n-heptane.The effects of H2SO4 concentration,extractant concentration and salting-out agent concentration were observed in detail.The extraction mechanism of Ce（Ⅳ） in H2SO4/H3PO4 system was obtained.The comparison with other extractants such as Cyanex923,TBP was also studied.Thermodynamic functions of the extraction reaction were calculated,showing that the extraction was an exothermic process.The separation of Ce（Ⅳ） from RE（Ⅲ） and Th（Ⅳ） was also investigated.The result indicated that Ce（Ⅳ） could be selectively extracted in this system.CePO4 nanoparticles were obtained in the process of stripping using H2O2 in H2SO4/H3PO4 system.X-ray diffraction（XRD）,scanning electron microscopy（SEM） and spectroscopy were adopted for the characterization of the sample.