Applications of Liquid Anion Exchangers for the Separation of Zirconium and Hafnium

Abstract

Zirconium and hafnuim were extracted with 0.1M of Aliquat 336S in toluene from 0.005M of ascorbic acid at pH 4.0. Both of the metals were stripped with 2M hydrochloric acid. Zirconium from the aqueous phase was determined spectrophotometrically with Arsenazo III at 650nm, while hafnium was determined with Xylenol Orange at 540nm. The separation of zirconium from hafnium was achieved by stripping hafnium with 9M hydrochloric acid followed by stripping zirconium with 2M hydrochloric acid. They were also separated from associated elements in multicomponent mixtures.