DOWEX Resins for Separation of Group IIIB from Liquid Media

Group IIIB Scandium - Sc Lutetium - Lu Yttrium - Y The Group IIIB Elements of scandium, yttrium, and lutetium readily lose their three outer shell electrons to form +3 ions in solution. The aqueous ions of M+3 are hydrolyzed in water to the common form of [M(OH)(H2O)n-1]+2. The Lanthanide series also forms these same ions so they exhibit similar separation chemistries.

Applications

Water/Wastewater: Scandium and yttrium are generally present as cations, so a strong acid cation resin is the separation media of choice. Sc and Y have a high affinity for a strong acid cation resin under dilute acid conditions that diminish at about 4 M HCl then again increase as acid concentration increases further (1). Often these metals are being separated from other closely associated metals so resins with the maximum number of theoretical plates are needed. Strong acid cation fine mesh resins like DOWEX™ 50WX8, 100-200 or DOWEX 50WX4, 100-200 resins are proposed for this separation.

DOWEX Ion Exchange Resins

Product	Description	Type	Matrix	Total Exchange Capacity* eq/l (kgr/ft3)	Available Forms
DOWEX 50WX8	Fine mesh resin for fine chemical and pharmaceutical column separation.	Fine Mesh	Styrene-DVB, Gel	1.7 meq/ml	H+
DOWEX 50WX4	Fine mesh resin for fine chemical and pharmaceutical column separations.	Fine Mesh	Styrene-DVB, Gel	1.1 meq/ml	H+

References 1. "Resin Selectivity in Dilute to concentrated Aqueous Solutions" by R.M. Diamond and D.C. Whitney, Chapter 8 of Ion Exchange – A Series of Advances Edited by J.A. Marinsky, Published by Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York (1966).