A method for selective separation of scandium (III) from yttrium and a number of rare-earth elements for its subsequent determination

Abstract

The possibility of using an aqueous stratified system of antipyrine — sulfosalicylic acid — water for the selective isolation of scandium macro- and microquantities for subsequent determination is studied. The proposed extraction system eliminates the usage of toxic organic solvents. The organic phase with a volume of 1.2 to 2.0 ml, resulting from delamination of the aqueous phase containing antipyrine and sulfosalicylic acid is analysed to assess the possibility of using such systems for metal ions extraction. Condition necessary for the formation of such a phase were specified: the ratio of the initial components, their concentration, presence of inorganic salting out agents. The optimum ratio of antipyrine to sulfosalicylic acid is 2:1 at concentrations of 0.6 and 0.3 mol/liter in a volume of the aqueous phase of 10 ml. The obtained phase which consists of antipyrinium sulfosalicylate, free antipyrine and water, quantitatively extracts macro- and microquantities of scandium at pH = 1.54. Macro- and microquantities of yttrium, terbium, lanthanum, ytterbium and gadolinium are not extracted under the aforementioned conditions thus providing selective isolation of scandium from the bases containing yttrium, ytterbium, terbium, lanthanum, and gadolinium.