Comparison of Microwave-assisted, ultrasound-assisted and conventional solvent extraction techniques for the extraction of molybdenum with tributyl phosphate

Abstract

The main objective of the current work was to evaluate the feasibility of Microwave-assisted Extraction (MAE) and Ultrasound-assisted Extraction (UAE) techniques as compared to conventional extraction for the extraction of molybdenum from HCl and H2SO4 solutions with TBP dissolved in n-hexane. The results show that the equilibrium time was drastically shortened under MAE and UAE from 10 min to 20 s and 03 min to 20 s for extractions conducted with HCl and H2SO4 solutions, respectively. Increase of HCl concentration increases the extraction yield of molybdenum under MW and UAE irradiations whereas the reverse was observed with the increase of H2SO4 concentration. For 1 M HCl, an increase in microwave power enhances slightly the extraction yield for microwave power greater than 60 W. An increase in ultrasound amplitude has slightly increased the extraction of molybdenum and lowered it for 0.10 M H2SO4. For a microwave power of 100 W and 1 M HCl, the extraction of molybdenum was 50% higer comparatively to conventional extraction. Also for 1 M HCl and for a pulse amplitude of 80%, the extraction yield was 100% much higher than the one obtained under conventional extraction. The application of MAE and UAE clearly highlights that molybdenum can be extracted by using these technologies and that it has contributed to improve the efficiency of conventional solvent extraction. under suitable process conditions.