Extraction of rare earths and yttrium with high molecular weight carboxylic acids

The extraction behaviour of trivalent rare earths namely La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, Dy and Ho including Y (M(III), where M represents rare earths and yttrium ) from chloride medium has been studied with the solutions of high molecular weight carboxylic acids such as cekanoic, naphthenic, neo-heptanoic and Versatic 10 in dodecane. The effects of equilibrium pH, extractant concentration, metal ion concentration etc have been investigated. Using slope analysis technique it has been inferred that the metal ions form monomeric complex of the type [M(HA2)3] with carboxylic acids (H2A2, the dimer form). The stoichiometry of the species has also been confirmed using non-linear least square regression method. The carboxylic acids show different behaviour for Y extraction, it resembles to that of heavy rare earth (Ho), for sterically hindered acids (neo-heptanoic and Versatic 10) and to that with lighter rare earths (Ce, Pr) for the less sterically hindered acids (cekanoic and napthenic). The extraction order for the rare earths has been found to be the same with the four acids, i.e., La < Ce < Pr < Nd < Sm < Gd < Dy < Ho. The extraction constant (Kex) of the systems and the separation factor amongst the rare earth pairs have been evaluated.