Extraction Equilibria of 4-Hydroxypyridine using Di (2-ethylhexyl) Phosphoric Acid

Abstract

Extractions of 4-Hydroxpyridine (4HP) from aqueous solutions using Di(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) as extractant in 1-octanol and kerosene were studied. The factors that affected the distribution coefficient (D), such as equilibrium pH, the concentration of D2EHPA, and the type of diluents were discussed. The interaction mechanism between 4HP and D2EHPA was validated by infrared spectroscopic analysis. D increased with the increase of the concentration of D2EHPA and peak values appeared at equilibrium pH = 3.6–5.0. D in the polar diluent (1-octanol) was much higher than those in the non-polar diluent (kerosene). The extraction reaction was found to be a proton-transfer process and D2EHPA mainly reacted through its –OH with –N– of 4HP. The apparent reactive extraction equilibrium constants K 11 and K 12 were obtained by fitting the experimental data of extraction equilibrium. By comparing calculated D values from the proposed model with the experimental ones, the accuracy of the proposed model was examined.