Experimental study on selective separation of yttrium from europium with D2EHPA solvent

The uses of REE elements, especially for high-tech products are increased in recent years. the main aimof this paper is to study the separation of Yttrium from Europium in the solution obtained from leachingand subsequent purification of spent fluorescent lamps in H2SO4. Purification and selectivelyprecipitation of europium and yttrium with oxalic was obtained by using pH=1.5, at ambienttemperature for 10 min and 50% wt. excess oxalic acid. Then, obtained oxalate was roasted at 900℃ inthe air to convert the rare earth components into a mixture of their oxides. Then, the oxides were leachedin nitric acid. It was found that good separation between yttrium and europium with an 80.35 separationfactor can be achieved by extraction of elements from 0.5M nitric acid with 0.03M D2EHPA diluted inkerosene, followed by stripping with 4M H2SO4.

Keywords:

Yttrium , Rare earth elements , Waste fluorescent lamps , Hydrometallurgy , Solvent extraction