Recovery of rare-earth elements from nitrate solutions using polyethylene glycol 1500

A new extraction system based on polyethylene glycol 1500 and NaNO3 was proposed for the recovery of light rare-earth elements (Ce, La, Nd, Pr, and Sm) from aqueous solutions. The equilibrium distribution coefficients and degrees of extraction of CeIII, LaIII, NdIII, PrIII, and SmIII in the proposed aqueous two-phase system were found. The dependences of the quantitative characteristics of rare-earth element extraction on the temperature, initial metal concentration, and acidity of the medium were obtained. The degree of extraction of the metal ions within one step was shown to exceed 60% at the phase ratio 1:1 without introducing additional complexation agents.