Extraction of cesium from aqueous solution through t-BAMBP/C2mimNTf2 and recovery of cesium from waste desalination brine
Cheng‐Han Lee, Wei‐Sheng Chen
Abstract
ABSTRACT This research demonstrates an ionic liquid-based extraction system for extracting cesium by using 4-tert-butyl-2-(α-methylbenzyl)phenol (t-BAMBP) as a conventional extractant and 1-ethyl-3- methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (C 2 mimNTf 2 ) as a diluent. The factors that affected the extraction efficiency such as the concentration of t-BAMBP, contacting time, initial pH value of the aqueous solution, organic phase/aqueous phase ratio (O/A ratio), and reaction temperature were optimized. In this work, the thermodynamics parameters of cesium extraction with t-BAMBP/C 2 mimNTf 2 system were investigated as well. Moreover, the extraction system was extended to study the recovery of cesium from waste desalination brine. The extraction efficiencies of cesium, rubidium, potassium, and sodium were 96%, 64.7%, 5.6%, and 3.3%. However, other impurities such as lithium, calcium, and magnesium could not be extracted through the t-BAMBP/C 2 mimNTf 2 system. After extracting, cesium could then be stripped back to the liquid phase through ammonia. In a nutshell, this study shows the optimal parameters of the t-BAMBP/C 2 mimNTf 2 system for cesium extraction and verifies its feasibility of applying it to desalination brine.