Journal of the Korean Society of Mineral and Energy Resources Engineers ISSN:2288-0291(Print) 2288-2790(Online) 한국자원공학회지

The extraction resin for the extraction chromatography method was synthesized and applied to separate heavy rare earth elements(Gd, Tb). The separation characteristics and resolution values of the synthesized extraction resin were compared with the commercial extraction resin(P507). Results showed that the high stirring speeds lowered the bead sizes in the suspension polymerization of cross-linked polystyrene. The synthesized resin contained 0.628 bis(2-ethyl-hexyl)phosphinic acid(HEH[EHP])g/g resin. The specific surface area of the synthesized resin was increased 15 times by increasing porogenic agents(toluene/n-heptane) from 2.5/2.5 to 10/10 wt.%. Furthermore, increases of porogenic agents enhanced the separation efficiencies during the separation of rare earth elements by the extraction chromatography method. When the synthesized extraction resin and P507 were applied for the separation of Gd and Tb, the synthesized resin gave 36.4% lower efficiency at the same condition. Purities of extracted elements showed little difference for both extraction resins.