A study on solvent extraction of a mixture of light rare earths ions (La (III), Nd (III) and Ce (IV)) from nitric and sulphuric acid solutions with di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) in kerosene as an extractant has been carried out. The influences of D2EHPA and acid concentrations on the extraction efficiency of rare earth metal ions were evaluated. It was found that the extraction percentage of La, Nd and Ce decreased as the acids concentrations increased. On the contrary, the extraction efficiency of these ions increased as D2EHPA concentration increased. The utmost extraction percentage of La, Nd and Ce (99.4%, 99.7% and 100% respectively) was extracted from 0.1 M HNO3using 1.0 M D2EHPA. The order of extraction ability of the studied rare earth elements by D2EHPA decreased in the series of Ce (IV)>Nd (III)>La (III).
The paper describes some work done on the SEM and XRD characteristic studies of aluminium hydroxide and alumina synthesized by the solvothermal and hydrothermal methods. Hydrothermal process produced boehmite phase aluminium hydroxide while the solvothermal process produced gibbsite phase aluminium hydroxide. Transition reaction study by in-situ XRD shows that the gibbsite is transformed into boehmite before it is converted into alumina. This transformation stage involves a dissolution-recrystallization process. The SEM results show the changes in morphology of the crystals as a result of both these processes.
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