Influence of extragent dilution upon light rare earths separation

The effect of diluting the extragent on separation of REE in the presence of 6 g-equiv. of LiNO3 has been studied. For experiments use was made of TBP diluted with kerosene or butylbenzene (40,50,70 vol.%). The separation coefficients have been determined under conditions of saturation. The content of trace amounts of the components has been determined by the weight method; the content of macroimpurities - by the radiometric method. It has been established that the coefficient of Ce-La, Pr-La separation is not affected by the dilution of the extragent. The only exception is the Pr142-La pair; in the presence of trace amounts of better extracted element and two-fold dilution the separation coefficient increases almost by 150%. For the Pr-Ce pair the effect of dilution is better noticeable in that case when more extracted element is present in trace amounts. However, a comparison of the effect of dilution on separation coefficients of all REE pairs under study has shown that this effect is the strongest for the samarium-neodymium pair. The data obtained allow an assumption to be made that kerosene, as a diluent, affects the steric factor and coordination. Therefore, upon dilution the coefficient of the samarium-neodymium pair separation is affected most of all