Removal of molybdenum by TBP-TRPO extraction in sodium isopolytungstate solution

Abstract

A new process was proposed for extracting molybdenum from tungsten solutions in acidic tungsten-molybdenum mixed solution. The extraction ratio of molybdenum reached 70 % and the tungsten-molybdenum separation factors reached 400 with the hydrogen peroxide dosage of nH2O2/n(Mo) = 2 (nH2O2/n(W + Mo) = 0.3) for the molybdenum-containing isopolytungstate sodium solution. The experimental conditions resulted in the yield of only 20 % of the traditional method (nH2O2/n(W + Mo) = 1.5–2). The organic phases consisted of 2 % TRPO and 60 % TBP. The saturated extraction capacity of molybdenum was found to be 10 g/L. The solution of 0.3 mol/L sodium bicarbonate was used as the stripping agent. With the temperature of 25 ℃, stripping time of 6 min, and the phase ratio of (O/A)2, the stripping ratio of molybdenum was 90 % and that of tungsten was 70 %. The extraction mechanism of TBP-TRPO and the hydrogen peroxide coordination were analyzed using Raman and infrared analyses. The process has a high industrial potential due to its low hydrogen peroxide dosage, high molybdenum extraction ratio, high separation factor, and low cost.