ION EXCHANGE RESINS TAILORED FOR EFFECTIVE RECOVERY AND SEPARATION OF RHENIUM, MOLYBDENUM AND TUNGSTEN

摘要

Rhenium, molybdenum and tungsten are the elements demanded by high-end technologies.These metals are found in process solutions in forms of their oxyanions: ReO_4~-, MoO_4~(2-) and WO_4~(2-). The later two can exist in forms of iso- and/or heteropolyanions. Basically all three metals demonstrate very similar chemical behavior in aqueous solutions. Unfortunately, in their mineral sources these elements commonly accompany each other, like pairs of rhenium-molybdenum or molybdenum-tungsten. Their economical separation is a challenging task.The main problem associated with rhenium recovery is its low concentration and interference with other ionic constitutes in process solutions, especially with molybdenum.