Separation of zirconium and scandium in process of scandium extraction from titanium dioxide waste acid

The zirconium scandium separation problems always exist in the process of scandium recovering from titanium dioxide production. Hydrofluoric acid (HFA) is used to wash rich scandium zirconium organic phase. Research shows that when the concentration of hydrofluoric acid is 0.3 mol/L ~ 0.8 mol/L, the elution rate of zirconium is between 28.23% ~ 77.87% and the scandium concentration less than 2 μg/ml. When the concentration of hydrofluoric acid is greater than 0.8 mol/L, scandium in lotion is greater than 2 μg/ml and increases as HFA increasing. The washing effect is poor when washing time less than 10 min or more than 15 min and most zirconium can be eluted for 10 min ~ 15 min. The efficiency of single-stage washing is better than the cascade. When ratio of organic phase volume to water phase volume is 2:1, the washing result is the best. ©, 2014, Editorial Office of Chinese Rare Earths. All right reserved.