Mass transfer and selective separation of neodymium ions via a hollow fiber supported liquid membrane using PC88A as extractant

• HFSLM can successfully separate Nd(III) from mixed rare earth.
• Optimum extraction and obtained stripping reached 98% and 95%.
• The highest mass transfer resistance of Nd(III) is chemical reaction.
• The experimental results were used to correlate the models.

The mass transfer of Nd(III) via hollow fiber supported liquid membrane was studied. At pH 4.5 using 0.5 M 2-ethylhexyl phosphonic acid mono-2-ethylhexyl ester as the extractant and 1 M H2SO4 as the stripping solution, optimum extraction and stripping reached 98% and 95%. Mass transfer resistance due to chemical reaction proved to be of the highest value, i.e. 1/Ke = 5.871 × 102 s/cm. Thus, this indicated that the mass transfer resistance from the extraction was the most important. Further, the mass transfer model fitted in well with the experiment data. The average deviation in the feed side was below 5%.

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