For the purpose of developing an alkali leaching solvent extraction directly from alkali solution process, the extraction of niobium from alkali solution by long chain alkyl quaternary ammonium salt (methyltrioctylammonium chloride R 4NCl) in toluene was investigated. The experiments were carried out under conditions of 25 ℃, Nb(Ⅴ) concentration 0.01 mol/L, pH 10.7 13.8, R 4NCl concentration 0.02 0.14 mol/L. It has been found that the distribution ratio of niobium increases with increasing R 4NCl concentration and with decreasing KCl concentration, but it shows maximum value at pH value of about 12 and decreases below or above this pH value. Distribution ratio of niobium goes up to over 1 000 in appropriate conditions, and so it has been proved that R 4NCl is an effective extractant for extraction of niobium from alkali solution.
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