Assessment of mass transfer coefficients in extraction stages of La(III) and Ce(III) ions by using rotating Scheibel column with regular packing structure

Abstract

The extraction of rare earth metals is critical due to their applicability in the industry. Because of this subject’s importance, the Scheibel column with the regular packing structure was investigated in the extraction process of lanthanum and cerium ions. Mass transfer coefficients identified the column performance in the transport stage of La(III) and Ce(III) from the aqueous phase to the organic phase. The variations in operating conditions were investigated to optimize the extraction of two ions. The backflow model (BFM), axial dispersion model (ADM), and forward mixing model (FMM) were investigated to evaluate the mass transfer performance in the column. The result showed that the description of the volumetric overall mass transfer coefficient with the forward mixing model is more significant than the two other models. The FMM model was evaluated by the function of droplet size and droplet residence time and the concentration profiles fitting technique. The medium of average absolute relative error obtained by the FMM model is ~ 4.45% and ~ 18.40% (lanthanum extraction) and ~ 10.75% and ~ 14.99% (cerium extraction) for the continuous and dispersed phase, respectively. It indicated that the applied model has a remarkable accuracy for the description of mass transfer performance. The result showed that the rotor’s speed has the most notable effects on the extraction conditions.