Anion Exchange Resin Separation of the Rare Earths, Yttrium, and Scandium in Nitric Acid-Methanol Mixtures.

Abstract

The adsorption of the rare earths, yttrium, and scandium from nitric acid--methanol solutions was studied using strongly basic anion exchange resins. Adsorption measurements were made at room temperature using the column elution technique and employing emission spectrographic analysis. Distribution coefficients were a function of both the volume percentage of alcohol and of the nitric acid concentration. The rare earths were eluted from a column in order of decreasing atomic number with little individual than terbium had relatively large separation factors. Yttrium behaved like lutetium, while scandium was not adsorbed to an appreciable extent. Application of the system for macro separations was demonstrated in the preparation of extremely pure rare earths and for fractionation of crude rare earth mixtures. Finally, the simplicity of operation is attractive for analytical separation of trace impurities.