A Study on Photochemical Separation of Rare Earths: The Separation of Europium from an Industrial Concentrate Material of Samarium, Europium, and Gadolinium

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Abstract
Eu can be separated by photoreduction from the Sm, Eu, and Gd concentrate in a mixed alcohol (ethanol and isopropanol) system by using a high-pressure mercury lamp as the light source. The influencing factors, such as the concentration of EtOH-isopropanol, irradiation time, and the lamp power, on the photoreduction were investigated in detaii in this research, and the optimum technological conditions were determined. The separation coefficients were βGd/Eu > βSm/Eu = 960, and the yield of Eu(II) is 95%. The purity of Eu obtained is 92%.