Nonnuclear hydrometallurgical applications of TBP

This chapter on the nonnuclear solvent extraction applications of tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP) has been assembled from information in the analytical, chemical, and metallurgical literature. There are actually few operating plants, or, in fact, process flowsheets designed for the use of TBP in the extraction of nonnuclear metals and other materials. Perhaps one of the main reasons for this is that TBP operates through a solvating mechanism of extraction, and, therefore, extraction is highly dependent upon, the ionic strength of the anion. Many developments in process metallurgy utilizing solvent extraction involve extraction from a sulfate medium. Very few plants have gone on-stream employing chloride or nitrate systems, even though TBP is an excellent extractant from aqueous chloride or nitrate media. It is very likely that in the future we shall see many hydrometallurgical processes developed and plants designed in which the aqueous medium is chloride. With this in mind, we have included analytical and chemical techniques as possible guides to future design trends. The chapter includes most of the elements in the Periodic Table and covers all the various groups in the table. The chemistry of metals within the same group is, of course, quite similar, and this is evident in the comparison of extraction properties. For the convenience of the reader we have put the various metals into groups found within the Periodic Table, or in other appropriate groups that show chemical relationships. The literature surveyed in this chapter covers the period 1966 to 1984