The kinetics of liquid-liquid extraction of metals in a rotating diffusion cell. A rotating diffusion cell is used to study the rates of extraction of divalent transition metals by di-(2-ethylhexyl)-phosphoric acid and a sulphur analogue. A chemical-diffusion model describes the rate curves.

A rotating diffusion cell (RDC) has been used to study the kinetics of extraction of the transition metals cobalt (II), nickel (II), copper (II) and zinc (II) from sulphate solutions into either of two extractants held in n-heptane; di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) or di-(2- ethylhexyl) dithiophosphoric acid (D2EHDTPA). The metal concentration was 10 mM and the aqueous pH was held at 4.5. The extractant concentration was varied between 0.015 to 0.4 M. In the case of cobalt extraction by D2EHPA, the metal concentration and the pH were varied Different diluents and modifiers were also studied.The rate of extraction by D2EHDTPA was found to be faster than D2EHPA. A comprehensive mathematical model, based upon established two film theory, was developed and used to describe the above experimental results. The model was also used to predict values of the important parameters. ... These values compared well with those found by other authors but using quite different experimental techniques. OS4 In the case of cobalt extraction by D2EHPA, the more polar diluents lowered the initial rate. The overall model predicts such behaviour where the rate is also dependent on the partition coefficients of the extractant. Finally, the theory of the RDC allows the prediction of the diffusion layer thicknesses, this information together with the reaction zone thickness is used to explore the influences of diffusion and chemical reaction on the overall transfer process. The diffusion processes are calculated to be the most important of the two. This is especially so for the D2EHDTPA systems.

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10454/5025

Type

Thesis

Qualification name

PhD