Investigation of seperation conditions of thorium, cerium and lanthanum via successive sorption onto TBP impregnated XAD-16 resin

In this thesis, the separation conditions of thorium and cerium via successive sorption on prepared TBP-XAD16 SIR from a solution including 25 mgL-1 Th, 1500 mgL-1 Ce(III) and 750 mgL-1 La (III) were investigated. For thorium adsorption with batch method; 9M acidity, 25 ºC temperature, 30 min shaking time and 5mL/0.1g V/m ratio were found to be the most favorable conditions and thorium efficiency in these conditions was determined as 81.45±2.00 %. After complete removal of thorium, the Ce (III) present in the remaining solution was oxidized to Ce(IV) with ammonium persulfate. Since TBP was selective for tetravalent elements, for this time, the adsorption experiments with TBP-XAD16 SIR were carried out for Ce (IV) and La (III). For the adsorption of Ce (IV); 5M acidity, 25 ºC temperature, 5 minutes shaking time, 50/1 V/m ratio was found to be the most favorable conditions, Ce (IV) yield was determined as 66.28 ± 2.00%. Column and stripping experiments showed that thorium and cerium could be completely separated from the lanthanum by increasing the number of steps.