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liquid-liquid solvent extraction

chemistry

Quick Summary

Liquid-liquid solvent extraction is a chemical process used to separate components of a mixture. It involves using two immiscible or partially immiscible solvents. The mixture is dissolved in one solvent, and then brought into contact with the second solvent. The components of the mixture distribute themselves between the two solvents based on their relative affinities. The solvent containing the desired component is called the extract, while the remaining solvent is the raffinate.1

This process can be single-stage, where one equilibration is sufficient for separation if the separation factor is large. However, for components with smaller separation factors, a multistage process is required, where the equilibration is repeated many times to achieve higher purity. This technique is crucial in industries like rare-earth element processing, where it's used to separate individual elements with high purity.21

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