El Hady S. Bulletin of Faculty of Science, Zagazig University. 2017 Apr 1;2017(1):186-203.
The technical samples of polymetallic sedimentary rocks (2.61% RE2O3, 1.14% Ta2O5 and 2.16% Nb2O5) collected from the southwest of Sinai Peninsula were treated by sulfuric acid stirring leaching under different conditions. The resulting sulfate solution is chemically treated, including the precipitation of rare earth elements into oxalates. The treated sulfate solution was obtained and used for solvent extraction with isodecanol to recover Nb and Ta.
Solvent extraction of Nb and Ta using isodecanol
In order to study the recovery of Nb and Ta, the samples of 500 g working Um Tomyem ore were stirred and leached with sulfuric acid under the optimum acid leaching conditions, then cooled and washed properly. From the obtained sulfate leaching solution, REE was relatively recovered by direct precipitation in the form of oxalate, while Nb and Ta remained in the solution. Nb and Ta were extracted from the treated sulfate solution (excluding rare earth elements) using the organic solvent isodecanol. The solvent was diluted with kerosene to prepare different concentrations. In each extraction experiment, the time required for the organic phase and the water phase to shake together in the separation funnel. Then the two phases were precipitated and separated, and the residual metal content of the aqueous phase was analyzed to calculate the extraction efficiency.
