B. Nagaphani Kumar

Nickel recovery from spent Raneynickel catalyst through dilute sulfuric acid leaching and soda ash precipitation.

Pharmaceutical industry makes extensive use of Raneynickel catalyst for various organic drug intermediates/end products. Spent catalysts contain environmentally critical and economically valuable metals. In the present study, a simple hydrometallurgical process using dilute sulfuric acid leaching was described for the recovery of nickel from spent Raneynickel catalyst. Recovery of nickel varied with acid concentration and time, whereas temperature had negligible effect. Increase of S/L ratio to 30% (w/v) showed marginal effect on nickel (90%) recovery, whereas Al recovery decreased drastically to approximately 20%. Under the optimum conditions of leaching viz: 12 vol.% H(2)SO(4), 30 degrees C, 20% solid to liquid (S/L) ratio and 120 min reaction time, it was possible to recover 98.6% Ni along with 39.2% Al. Leach liquor [pH 0.7] containing 85.0 g/L Ni and 3.25 g/L Al was adjusted to pH 5.4 with 30 wt.% alkali for quantitative aluminum removal. Nickel loss was about 2% during this Al removal step. Nickel from the purified leach liquor was recovered as nickel carbonate by adding required amount of Na(2)CO(3). The purity of NiCO(3) product was found to be 100% with a Ni content of 48.6%. Na(2)SO(4) was recovered as a by-product with a purity of 99%. Complete process is presented.

Synergistic Solvent Extraction of Neodymium(III) from Chloride Solutions using a Mixture of Triisooctylamine and bis(2,4,4-Trimethylpentyl) Monothiophosphinic Acid

The synergistic solvent extraction of Neodymium(III) with mixture of triisooctylamine (Alamine 308, R3N) and bis(2,4,4-trimethylpentyl) monothiophosphinic acid (Cyanex 302, (HX)2) in kerosene from chloride solutions has been investigated. A significant synergistic effect was found by the addition of Cyanex 302 to Alamine 308. The synergistic enhancement coefficient was calculated to be 44.1 for Nd at a mole fraction of 0.2 of Cyanex 302 in the mixture. Results of the effect of equilibrium pH on the distribution ratio of Nd suggested two moles of H+ released in the extraction of Nd with a mixture of extractants. The effect of variation of one extractant at a fixed concentration of the other extractant has been carried out in order to determine the extracted species as NdClX2.2 R3N. The endothermic nature of extraction with the mixture of extractants was confirmed by the temperature effect and thermodynamic parameters ΔH, ΔG, and ΔS were calculated.

Liquid-Liquid Extraction Studies of Trivalent Yttrium from Phosphoric Acid Solutions Using TOPS 99 as an Extractant

Liquid-liquid extraction studies of trivalent yttrium (Y) from phosphoric acid solutions have been carried out with commercial organophosphoric acid based extractant TOPS 99 (Talcher Organo phosphorus solvent, an equivalent of di-2-ethylhexyl phosphoric acid). The parameters studied include equilibration time, acid concentration, extractant concentration, diluent, metal concentration, temperature, stripping, and regeneration of the extractant. Increase of phosphoric acid concentration in the range from 0.01 to 0.5 M on the extraction of trivalent Y with 6 × 10−3 M TOPS 99 (Talcher Organo phosphorus solvent) decreases the percentage extraction, indicating the transfer of metal follows ion exchange type reaction. The plot of log D vs. equilibrium pH gave a straight line with a slope of 3.1 indicating the exchange of three moles of hydrogen ions for every mole of trivalent Y extracted into the organic phase. Stripping of metal from the loaded organic with mineral acids indicate sulphuric acid as the best stripping agent. The extraction behavior of associated elements clearly follows their ionic radii with a maximum separation factor of 414 for Lu-Tb.

Solid‐Liquid Extraction of Terbium from Phosphoric Acid Medium using Bifunctional Phosphinic Acid Resin, Tulsion CH‐96

Solid‐liquid extraction of terbium from phosphoric acid medium has been studied using the commercially available macroporous bifunctional phosphinic acid resin, Tulsion CH‐96. The parameters studied include equilibration time, acid concentration, amount of resin, metal concentration, temperature, loading, elution, regeneration, and recycling. In the wide range of phosphoric acid concentration 0.01–7.8 M the percent extraction of terbium decreases from 98.9% at 0.01 M to 16.0% at 1 M due to an ion‐exchange mechanism and increases to 36% at 7.8 M due to a coordination mechanism. The percent extraction increases with an increase in weight of the resin from 2.7% at 0.05 g to 80.7% at 1.2 g. Under the studied experimental conditions, the loading of Tulsion CH‐96 for terbium was determined to be 3.52 mg per gram of resin. The percent extraction of terbium increases with the increase in temperature, indicating the endothermic nature of the extraction process. Screening of various eluants suggested 1 M (NH4)2CO3 as the best with an efficiency of 99.8%. The extraction behavior of commonly associated metals with terbium such as yttrium, holmium, erbium, dysprosium, ytterbium, and lutetium has been studied as a function of phosphoric acid concentration to determine the separation factors and possible separation.

Solid-liquid extraction of Gd(III) and separation possibilities of rare earths from phosphoric acid solutions using Tulsion CH-93 and Tulsion CH-90 resins

Abstract Solid-liquid extraction of gadolinium was investigated from phosphoric acid medium using commercial amino phosphonic acid resin, Tulsion CH-93. The experimental conditions studied included equilibration time, acid concentration, mass of the resin, metal concentration, loading and elution. The percent extraction of Gd(III) was studied as a function of phosphoric acid (0.05-3 mol/L) using Tulsion CH-93 resin. The corresponding lg D vs. equilibrium pH plot gave straight line with a slope of 1.8. The percent extraction decreased with acid concentration increasing, conforming ion exchange mechanism. Under observed experimental conditions the loading capacity of Tulsion CH-93 for gadolinium was 10.6 mg/g. Among several eluants screened, the quantitative elution of Gd(III) from loaded Tulsion CH-93 was obtained with ammonium oxalate (0.15 mol/L). The extraction behavior of commonly associated metals with gadolinium was studied as a function of phosphoric acid concentration. Tulsion CH-93 resin showed selective extraction towards heavy rare earths (Lu and Yb) which could be separated from other rare earths at 3 mol/L H 3 PO 4 , similar to wet phosphoric acid (3–5 mol/L). On the other hand Gd(III) and other rare earths were studied with chelating resin Tulsion CH-90. Light rare earths were highly extracted and these could be separated from heavy rare earths and Gd.

Separation and Recovery of Light Rare-Earths from Chloride Solutions using Organophosphorus based Extractants

In this paper, separation possibilities of light rare-earths (LREs), Ce, La, Nd, and Pr with three acidic organophosphorus extractants such as TOPS 99 (an equivalent of di-2-ethylhexyl phosphoric acid, D2EHPA), PC 88A(2-ethylhexylphosphonic acid mono-2-ethylhexyl ester), and Cyanex 272 (Bis(2,4,4-trimethylpentyl)phosphinic acid) from synthetic chloride solutions of monazite at three initial pH values has been investigated. The composition of synthetic leach liquor is Ce − 5.4 g/L, La − 3.12 g/L, Nd −1.35 g/L, and Pr − 0.475 g/L at pH 2.0. Using sodium hypochlorite and sodium hydroxide, cerium was precipitated as ceric hydroxide quantitatively. Among the three investigated extractants, TOPS 99 showed better separation factors towards LREs. Therefore, 0.7 mol/L TOPS 99 has been employed for the separation of Nd, and Pr from La in 3-stages at an aqueous to organic phase ratio of 4:1 and pH 2.0. Raffinate contains 2120 mg/L La, 41 mg/L of Nd, and 17 mg/L of Pr corresponding to an extraction efficiency of 32.1%, 96.4%, and 96.2%, respectively. La from loaded organic phase was scrubbed with 9182 mg/L Nd solution and achieved a scrubbing efficiency of 98.2%. 1 mol/L HCl is used for quantitative stripping. A process flowsheet for the separation and recovery of LREs was presented.