Extraction and Separation Factor for Lanthanum(III) and Cerium(III) Complexes from Aqueous Medium Using Ionic Liquid and Kerosene

In this work, an experimental study was carried out to find the best-operating conditions for the study of the extraction percentage (%E) and the separation factor (SF) of La(III) and Ce(III) complexes. To carry out this study, a variation of β-diketone concentrations was used, keeping the concentration of tri-octyl phosphine oxide (TOPO) continuous at 0.05 M. The ratio of organic phase to the aqueous phase (O/A) was also studied. The %E and SF were analyzed and compared in the 1,1,1-trifluoro-2, 4-pentanedione (TFA) with TOPO, and 1,1,1,5,5,5-Hexafluoro-2,4-pentanedione (HFAc) with TOPO in Ionic Liquid (IL) and Kerosene. The one-stage extraction efficiency in IL of La(III) and Ce(III) complexes was 42.13% and 77.48% for the TFA-TOPO system and La(III) and Ce(III) complexes were 94.33% and 97.67% for the HFAc-TOPO system. While the SF between Ce(III) and La(III) complexes was 4.91 for TFA-TOPO and 2.64 for HFAc-TOPO. On the other hand, the one-stage extraction efficiency in Kerosene of La(III) and Ce(III) complexes was 27.57% and 63.70% in the TFA-TOPO system. The one-stage extraction efficiency of La(III) and Ce(III) complexes were 99.87% and 99.73% for the HFAc-TOPO system in Kerosene while the SF between Ce(III) and La(III) complexes was 4.62 for TFA-TOPO and 0.49 for HFAc-TOPO. The main conclusion was that using two extractants (β-diketone and TOPO) produced a synergistic effect improving the extraction capacity and SF of La(III) and Ce(III) complexes for both systems in IL and Kerosene.