A comparative study on extraction of Mo(VI) using both solvent extraction and hollow fiber membrane technique

A comparative study between solvent extraction and hollow fiber membrane technique has been carried out for the extraction of Mo(VI) from an aqueous sulfate solution. Effect of different parameters such as pH of feed solution, flow rate, extractant concentration, metal ion concentration and strip solution concentration on molybdenum extraction has been investigated. The molybdenum flux, JMo increased with increase of pH and flow rate up to 1.5 and 420 mL/min., respectively and beyond that it decreased. With increasing LIX 84I concentration from 0.08 to 0.8 M, JMo increased from 2.04 to 14.57 × 10− 6 mol/m2.s, but remained constant beyond that concentration. From the equilibrium study the extracted species was determined to be MoO2R2.RH. Also separation of Mo was carried out from a solution bearing Mo, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn, Co and Ni and the separation factor values were found in the order of DMo/DCu < DMo/DFe < DMo/DZn < DMo/DCo < DMo/DMn < DMo/DNi. The conditions for solvent extraction study of Mo(VI) were optimized and extraction of Mo(VI) was carried out in a mixer–settler with three stage extraction and two stage stripping. The data generated from the hollow fiber study were compared with that of conventional mixer–settler study.