Extraction and Separation Factor for Lanthanum(III) and Cerium(III) Complexes from Aqueous Medium Using Ionic Liquid and Kerosene

Abstract

In this work, an experimental study was carried out to find the best-operating conditions for the study of the extraction percentage (%E) and the separation factor (SF) of La(III) and Ce(III) complexes. To carry out this study, a variation of β-diketone concentrations was used, keeping the concentration of tri-octyl phosphine oxide (TOPO) continuous at 0.05 M. The ratio of organic phase to the aqueous phase (O/A) was also studied. The %E and SF were analyzed and compared in the 1,1,1-trifluoro-2, 4-pentanedione (TFA) with TOPO, and 1,1,1,5,5,5-Hexafluoro-2,4-pentanedione (HFAc) with TOPO in Ionic Liquid (IL) and Kerosene. The one-stage extraction efficiency in IL of La(III) and Ce(III) complexes was 42.13% and 77.48% for the TFA-TOPO system and La(III) and Ce(III) complexes were 94.33% and 97.67% for the HFAc-TOPO system. While the SF between Ce(III) and La(III) complexes was 4.91 for TFA-TOPO and 2.64 for HFAc-TOPO. On the other hand, the one-stage extraction efficiency in Kerosene of La(III) and Ce(III) complexes was 27.57% and 63.70% in the TFA-TOPO system. The one-stage extraction efficiency of La(III) and Ce(III) complexes were 99.87% and 99.73% for the HFAc-TOPO system in Kerosene while the SF between Ce(III) and La(III) complexes was 4.62 for TFA-TOPO and 0.49 for HFAc-TOPO. The main conclusion was that using two extractants (β-diketone and TOPO) produced a synergistic effect improving the extraction capacity and SF of La(III) and Ce(III) complexes for both systems in IL and Kerosene.