Selective transport of zirconium (IV) and niobium (V) from hydrochloric media through a bulk liquid membrane

The selective transport of zirconium/niobium from hydrochloric medium has been investigated through a bulk liquid membrane (BLM) using tri-n-butyl-phosphate (TBP), tri-n-octylamine and dibenzo-18-crown-6 (DBC-6) as the extractants (carriers). The Optimization studies have been carried out by scrutinizing the effect of variables such as the hydrochloric acid concentration in the feed solution, membrane type and hydrochloric acid concentration in the strip solution using the Taguchi approach. The Quantitative transport of zirconium/niobium has been observed by 30% (v/v) TBP in 1200 min from the feed composed of a 9.0 M hydrochloric acid solution of Zr(IV), Nb(V) and lanthanide cations, while the transport of other cations, which have been presented along with Zr/Nb are less than 3% during the same time. Moreover, the possible mechanism of Zr(IV)/Nb(V) ion transport through the BLM has also been discussed and the results show a consecutive, irreversible second-order reaction at the interfaces. Transfer kinetics studies show that niobium transfer process exhibits slightly faster kinetics than zirconium.