S. Khorfan et Y. Koudsi, EFFECT OF ORGANIC DILUENTS ON THE EXTRACTION OF URANIUM FROM PHOSPHORIC-ACID, Journal of radioanalytical and nuclear chemistry, 199(5), 1995, pp. 339-345
Phosphoorganic solvents such as OPPA, DEPA/TOPO and OPAP are commonly
used to extract uranium from wet phosphoric acid. They are used in con
centrations between 1-10% wt/wt in organic diluents. These inert organ
ic substances serve to dilute the solvent, decrease its viscosity and
secure a greater contact between the acid and the solvent. The diluent
s should also be cheap, readily available, immiscible with water and v
olatile at the temperature of the extraction which is from 30-50 degre
es C. They should not reduce the extraction coefficient of the solvent
and separate well at the temperature of separation as an organic phas
e. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of various org
anic diluents in order to select the most suitable one. It is establis
hed that paraffinic diluents are better than aromatic ones. Since kero
sene is cheap, available and not very volatile at the temperature of e
xtraction, it is commonly used in extraction. However, the kerosene us
ed should be treated to reduce the aromatic content to a minimum.