Zirconium and Hafnium Separation, Part 3. Ligand‐Enhanced Separation of Zirconium and Hafnium from Aqueous Solution using Nanofiltration

Abstract

Membrane filtration equipment was used to evaluate zirconium and hafnium separation efficiency by a membrane separation process. High rejection of Zr and Hf species in aqueous solution were obtained with nanofiltration and ultrafiltration membranes. This high rejection could be explained by the formation of high molecular weight polynuclear species. Enhanced transportation across the nanofiltration and ultrafiltration membranes was observed when aminocarboxylic ligands, like EDTA, were introduced in the solution. This enhancement could be explained by a depolymerization process of the polynuclear complexes induced by the ligands. The rejection of Zr and Hf was markedly influenced by the counter anions and the EDTA/metal ratio. By using Zr and Hf oxynitrates instead of oxychlorides a difference of rejection of up to 20% was observed for Zr and Hf indicating that the membrane separation process could be an alternative process for Zr and Hf separation.

Keywords:

• Zirconium
• hafnium
• separation
• nanofiltration

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Framatome through a Ph.D. grant to L.Poreil. Zr and Hf samples from Cezus are gratefully acknowledged.