Extraction of La(III) by a nonionic microemulsion containing D2EHPA in hollow fiber contactor

This study aimed to prepare a W/O nonionic microemulsion system(MEs) consisting of OP-4[polyoxyethylene(4) nonylphenol], OP-7[polyoxyethylene(7) nonylphenol], 1-hexanol, D2EHPA, kerosene and HCl solution and applied to the extraction of La(III) from chloride aqueous solution within the polysulfone hollow fiber contactor (HFC),laboratory-scale experiments were carried out to investigate the recovery of La(III) using as-prepared microemulsion from the simulation wastewater containing La(III),Al(III) and Fe(III). The right weight ratio(Rs) of OP-4 to OP-7 was firstly confirmed through determination of the solubilization capacity of HCl solution(W0,HCl) in microemulsion, the effect of several factors such as the HCl concentration, temperature and effective extraction time on the extraction efficiency of La(III) was discussed. Results showed that the acceptable Rs was 4:6 to prepare the W/O MEs. The extraction yield of La(III) increased with the increasing of HCl concentration, temperature and effective extraction time and reaches to 97.3% while using five-stage modules. The recovery yield of La(III) from simulation La-bearing wastewater was 90.6%.