Separation and Recovery of Scandium and Yttrium from Aqueous Chloride Media by Integrated Ion Exchange Method

Abstract

Separation of scandium (Sc) and yttrium (Y) using solvent-impregnated resin (SIR) containing bis(2,4,4trimethylpentyl)phosphinic acid (Cyanex 272) along with 1-octanol as a modifier was investigated. 1-Octanol was added to enhance stripping efficiency, since stripping of heavy rare earths from the organic solution containing organophosphorus extractants is difficult. The coated SIR was applied to both batch and chromatographic recovery of Sc and Y. The adsorption of Sc followed the Langmuir isotherm model. Separation of Sc from Y was achieved by employing chromatographic adsorption system together with quantitative elution from SIR by 5 mol/L HCl.