Thorium ions recovery using activated carbon modified with triphenyl phosphine oxide: kinetic and equilibrium studies

Abstract

Activated carbon (AC) modified with triphenyl phosphine oxide (TPPO) was tested for thorium(IV) adsorption. Different factors affecting the adsorption process such as pH, contact time, modified AC dose, initial thorium concentration, triphenyl phosphine oxide (TPPO) concentration and temperature were investigated to optimize Th(IV) adsorption operating conditions. Kinetic and equilibrium studies of the adsorption process have been studied. The obtained most favorable conditions for Th(IV) adsorption were: pH 3.6, 40 min contact time, 0.5 g modified AC dose, 0.02 M TPPO in toluene and 400 mg/L of thorium concentration at room temperature. The maximum sorption capacity according to Langmuir isotherm reached 71.94 mg/g for modified AC. Adsorption kinetics obeys pseudo-second order kinetic model. Thorium(IV) was efficiently desorbed from the loaded composite using 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 solution. The optimized factors have been carried out to recover thorium(IV) from Abu Rusheid leach liquor, south Eastern Desert, Egypt.

Highly efficient elimination of uranium (VI) and thorium (IV) from aqueous solution using activated carbon immobilized on polystyrene

“…Adsorption of U(VI) and Th(IV) using AC was reported frequently in previous literature. Yousef et al (2019) modified AC with triphenylphosphine oxide (TPPO) for thorium(IV) adsorption, with a maximum adsorption capacity of 71.94 mg/g at room temperature. Tan et al (2018) modified AC with thioacetamide (TAA) for low-concentration U(VI) removal.…”

Selective Liquid–Liquid Extraction of Thorium(IV) from Rare-Earth Element Mixtures

“…In this study, we developed a straightforward, selective Th­(IV) extraction system that responds to the growing need for improved f-element separations. While promising Th­(IV) extraction results have been documented using a variety of creative methods, − these approaches remain limited by complex ligand synthetic procedures or extraction conditions requiring mixtures of additional chelators/ionic liquids, large extractant or nitric acid concentrations, or intricate protocols which may hinder practical application. Important to our approach is the utilization of the liquid–liquid extraction technique that is well-established for practical metal separation systems. , When this process is applied in industry, the aqueous metal solution generated from the dissolution of raw materials is mixed with an organic solvent containing chelator molecules designed to bind the metal ions of interest and extract them into the organic solvent.…”