Cyanex 923 as the extractant in a rare earth element impurity analysis of high-purity cerium oxide

In this work, the feasibility of employing Cyanex 923 as an extractant into the non-cerium REE (rare earth elements) impurity analysis of high-purity cerium oxide was investigated. Through investigations on the choice of the extraction medium, the optimium extraction acidity, matrix Ce4+ effect on the non-cerium REE ion extraction, the optimium extractant concentration and suitable extracting time, and oscillation strengh, it was found that when the phase ratio was at 1:1 and the acicidity was about 2% H2SO4, by gently shaking by hand for about 2 min, 10 mL of 30% Cyanex 923 could not extract even for a 20 ng amount of non-cerium REE3+ ions. However, the extraction efficiency for Ce4+ of 100 mg total amount under the same conditions was about 96%, indicating that a 25-fold preconcentration factor could be achieved. Thus, it was concluded that Cyanex 923 could be used in a REE impurity analysis of 99.9999% or so pure cerium oxide for primary sepapation to elimilate matrix-induced interferences encountered in an ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy) determination.