Insight of solvent extraction process: Reassessment of trace level determinations

- The presence of cation - cation inner sphere complexes between UO22+ and Fe3+ established.
- A decreased tendency in organic layer due to TBP solvation.
- Fine tuning of solvent extraction with TBP to achieve a selective and complete removal iron from uranium matrix.

Solvent extraction is hoary yet modern technique with great scope of research due to the various intriguing phenomena in the system. Tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP) is a well known extractant which has been extensively used for separation of uranium matrix prior to elemental profiling. In this paper, one of the impurities namely Fe is being considered as it posed a challenge to the separation due to its co-extraction with TBP along with uranium. In these studies, for the first time, the existence of cation-cation inner sphere complexes between the UO22+and Fe3+ ions in both aqueous and organic phases have been establisted in addition to the selective separation of iron from uranium sample matrix using only TBP. The data from both spectrophotometric and thermophysical studies corroborated one another confirming the presence of cation-cation interactions (CCIs). The developed solvent extraction with only TBP showed almost no interferences on the iron extraction from matrix uranium and other co-ions like aluminum and copper. This has been the first time application of pure TBP for selective removal of iron from uranium samples. The procedure possessed excellent reproducibility and robustness.

Spectrophotometric studies indicate a possibility of cation-cation inner sphere complex formation between the ions (UO22+ and Fe3+) in aqueous phase to a great extent but it is reduced in the organic phase due to the solvation of ions by TBP molecules. These results are corroborated by those of thermophysical studies. Solvent extraction procedure suitably modified to ensure selective and complete removal of iron from uranium matrix prior to its analysis by ICP-OES. The developed methodology was applied to analysis of uranium samples.