Separation of gadolinium(III) and lanthanum(III) by nanofiltration-complexation in aqueous medium

A new method is proposed for the separation of gadolinium(III) and lanthanu m(III) in aqueous medium by nanofiltration combined with a complexation ste p. First DTPA was chosen as ligand for a selective Gd(III)/La(III) complexa tion. Having investigated the influence of three factors (pH, temperature a nd amount of ligand) for the selective complexation of DTPA towards Gd(III) and La(III), the system is then combined with a nanofiltration separation process to remove 92% of initial Gd(III) and only 12% of initial La.