Solvent extraction of La(III) using Cyanex 921 in petrofin and modelling of data by linear and nonlinear techniques

Abstract

Influence of various parameters affecting the extraction of La(III) from acidic nitrate medium has been analysed. The extraction of 99.1% La(III) from 0.01 mol/L HNO3 and 1 M NaNO3 has been obtained using 0.3 mol/L Cyanex 921 in petrofin. The ∆H0, ∆S0 calculated from temperature variation experiments and were found to be negative. Stripping has been effectively achieved using low concentrations of HCl and H2SO4. Separation of La(III) from other lanthanides (Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm) has shown maximum separation factor for La–Sm pair. Modelling of data has been performed using MLR, ANN and ANFIS.