SEPARATION OF Ta AND Nb BY EXTRACTION WITH SEC-OCTANOL-HF-H2SO4 SYSTEM
(Beijing General Research Institute for Nonferrous Metals, Beijing100088)
Abstract: Research work for the technology of separation of Ta and Nb with extraction by means of secondary octanol-HF-H2SO4 system has been conducted. When the material acidity was HF 4 mol/L and H2SO4 4mol/L, the distribution ratios of Ta and Nb were 15·0 and 3·2 correspondingly ,and Ta and Nb were extracted simultaneously into the organic phase; while at a lower acidity ,the sec-octanol system has a stronger extracting power for Ta than for Nb. When the material acidity was HF 1 mol/L and H2SO41.5 mol/L, the distribution ratios of Ta and Nb were 6·85 and 0·032 respectively, and the separation coefficient went up to 214,which resulted in a good separation of Ta and Nb.
Key words: sec-octanol Ta Nb extraction