Extraction and separation of thorium and ytterbium with bis (2,4,4-trimethylpentyl) phosphinic acid using a hollow fiber membrane extractor

The based membrane extraction of Th4+ and Yb3+ was studied in HBTMPP-heptane using a hollow fibber membrane. The separation method of Th4+ and Yb3+ was proposed by kinetics competition. The separation operation of Th4+ and Yb3+ mixture was carried out by two successive extraction and stripping simultaneously. The concentration ratio of Th4+ to Yb3+ is 16.74 in the stripping solution. The recovery and purity of Th4+ are 71.6% and 95.74% respectively.