Extraction properties of trivalent rare earth ions from nitric acid using a triamide-amine extractant

Uchino, Seiko*; Narita, Hirokazu*; Kita, Keisuke*; Suzuki, Hideya*; Matsumura, Tatsuro; Naganawa, Hirochika*; Sakaguchi, Koichi*; Oto, Keisuke*

Solvent Extraction Research and Development, Japan, 30(1), p.39 - 46, 2023/00

https://doi.org/10.15261/serdj.30.39

The extraction of trivalent rare earth ions (RE) from HNO solution using a triamide amine, tris(N,N-di-2-ethylhexyl-ethylamide)amine (DEHTAA), was conducted, and the extraction mechanism was estimated from extraction behavior of HNO and RE and the relationship between atomic number and extraction percentages (E%) for RE. A DEHTAA molecule dominantly formed a DEHTAA HNO at 1.0 M HNO and a DEHTAA(HNO) at 6.0 M HNO in the acid-equilibrated organic phase. This would provide the unique dependence of E% for the light RE on the HNO concentration, in which the E% value had a minimum and maximum at 0.5 M and 2 M HNO, respectively. The results of the slope analyses for the distribution ratios for RE suggested that the dominant RE complex was RE(NO)DEHTAA(DEHTAA HNO) at 1.0 M HNO. The E% for RE decreased from La to Lu at 1.0 M HNO; on the other hand, those increased from La to Nd at 0.25 M and from La to Sm and 6.0 M HNO.