BASIC PRINCIPLES INVOLVED IN THE MACRO-SEPARATION OF ADJACENT RARE EARTHS FROM EACH OTHER BY MEANS OF ION EXCHANGE

Technical Report · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1956

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/4289324· OSTI ID:4289324

Powell, J. E.; Spedding, F. H.

BS>The separation of rare earth mixtures by ion exchange using ammonium ethylenedisminetetracetate and annmonium N-hydroxyethylethylenediaminetriacetate as eluting agents is discussed in detail. Simple countercurrent separation theory is used to predict the minimum nuinber of displacements of an adsorbed band that are necessary in order to separate the components of binary mixtures. It is shown how the theory can be applied to even more complex systems, and experimental data are presented for some of the more difficultly separablc groups of rare-earth species. Experimental results agree very well with the theoretical predictions. (auth) A detailed description is presented of a process developed by Ames Laboratory for the separation of thorium, rare earths, and uranium from monazite sands. Oxalic acid is used to precipitate rare earths; and thorium from a sulfate and phosphate solution of these elements. The possibility of recovering uranium from the oxalate filtrate by anion exchange was investigated. (W.L.H.)

• Research Organization: Ames Lab., Ames, Iowa
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-82
• NSA Number: NSA-13-000538
• OSTI ID: 4289324
• Report Number(s): ISC-857
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

AMMONIUM COMPOUNDS
CHEMISTRY
COUNTER CURRENT
EDTA
ION EXCHANGE
MEASURED VALUES
RARE EARTHS
SEPARATION PROCESSES