Preconcentration in multistage liquid-liquid extraction

Theoretical possibilities of the preconcentration of solutes in multistage static liquid-liquid extraction have been investigated. It was found that the preconcentration increases with increasing distribution ratio of the solutes between two phases as well as with the number of stages (n) and reaches its maximum value for n approaching infinity, i.e., in dynamic extraction. Comparison of the preconcentration in multistage (P_ns) and one-stage (p_1s) static operations shows that the relative preconcentration (q_ns=p_ns/p_1s) increases to infinity as the separation efficiency approaches 100%. Some of these theoretical considerations have been confirmed in extraction of radioiodine from aqueous solutions.Presented at the 2nd International Conference on the Separation of Ionic Solutes, SIS'87, Smolenice, Czechoslovakia, October 12–15, 1987.