Separation and Recovery of Sc(III) and Y(III) from Aqueous Acidic Media with <i>N</i>-Lauroylsarcosine

Abstract

In this study, the selective extraction and mutual separation of Sc(III) and Y(III) from Ni(II), Co(II) and Mn(II) in acidic media were performed with N-lauroylsarcosine (NLS) in toluene. The experimental results were quantitatively analyzed using the conventional slope analysis method. This method reasonably elucidated reasonably the extraction equilibrium formulation of these metals with LNS. Isostearic acid with only a carboxylic acid group in the molecule extracted Sc(III) and Y(III) in a higher pH region compared with that with LNS having amide and carboxylic acid moieties. Therefore, we found that the amide group included in the molecule structure of NLS plays an important role to extract these metals. Mutual separation of Sc(III) and Y(III) was carried out by a one-step extraction using NLS from Ni(II), Co(II) and Mn(II) in acidic media. Sc(III) is more strongly extracted than Y(III) with NLS, and the separation factor of the metals is quite high at 4.68×103. Furthermore, the stripping of Sc(III) and Y(III) extracted into the organic phase was achieved using appropriate concentrations of various acids.