Transport of U(VI) from sulphuric acid medium across supported liquid membrane (SLM) containing di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (D2EHPA)/n-dodecane as a carrier

This paper reports on the supported liquid membrane (SLM) based transport studies of U(VI) from sulphate medium using di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid/n-dodecane as carrier. Polytetrafluoroethylene membrane was used as solid support and H2SO4 as receiver phase. The effects of various parameters such as receiver phase concentration, feed acidity, carrier concentration, U(VI) concentration, membrane thickness and membrane pore size on U(VI) transport had been investigated. With increase in H2SO4 concentrations and pH of feed solution there is an increase in U(VI) transport across the SLM. Similarly with increase in membrane thickness the U(VI) transport decrease whereas in case of pore size variation reverse results are obtained. The membrane thickness variation results showed that the U(VI) transport across the SLM is entirely diffusion controlled and the diffusion coefficient the D(o) was calculated as 1.36 × 10−7 cm2 s−1. Based on optimized condition, a scheme had been tested for selective recovery of U(VI) from ore leach solution containing a large number of other metal ions.