Recycling of valuable metals from spent catalysts in a green way is gaining extensive interest for economic and environment reasons. In this study, we developed novel hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents to extract Mo from spent catalysts. The hydrophobic DESs have been designed and synthesized by mixing one molar of the quaternary ammonium salt and two molars of various saturated fatty acids with different carbon chain lengths. The extraction ability and extraction mechanism of these DESs were studied, some factors influencing the extraction efficiency, including the structure of hydrogen bond acceptors and hydrogen bond donors, initial aqueous pH, reaction time and temperature, phase ratios were investigated. It is found that the synthesized hydrophobic DESs exhibit excellent extraction performance toward Mo, where the Mo distribution ratio is more than 2200 in the presence of other metals, corresponding to an extraction efficiency of 99% at optimal reaction conditions. This work reveals a distinct class of materials, guiding an effective and green way for spent catalyst treatment.Implications: Novel hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents have been developed to extract Mo from spent catalysts, the synthesized hydrophobic DESs possess several advantages, such as green, low price, low toxicity, and biodegradability. It exhibits excellent extraction performance under an optimized extraction condition. This work reveals a distinct class of materials, guiding a promising way for green and economical utilization of spent catalysts.
Solvent extraction with organophosphorus extractants has potential as a low-cost method for efficient Mo recovery for acidic leaching solutions. However, improved selectivity is required to obtain high-purity Mo products. In this study, various acidic organophosphorus extractants were compared, and 2-ethylhexylphosphonic acid mono-(2-ethylhexyl) ester (P507) was found to be optimal for efficient Mo extraction and Fe separation from acidic leaching solutions. Under the optimized conditions (40 vol% P507, 3:1 organic/aqueous, 20 °C, 5 min), the Mo and Fe extraction efficiencies reached 98.1 % and 35.2 %, respectively, with a separation factor of 90.1. The Mo/Fe separation efficiency was further improved using a two-stage countercurrent extraction method. The Mo extraction efficiency was attributed to coordination bonds (P = O → Mo) formed between Mo(VI) oxycations and P507 dimers, as well as covalent bonds (P O Mo) formed by substituting the hydrogen ions in P507. Increasing the H 2 SO 4 concentration in the leaching solution gradually transformed MoO 2 2+ into Mo 2 O 5 2+ dimers, which formed MoO 2 (HA 2 ) 2 and Mo 2 O 5 (HA 2 ) 2 metal complexes during the extraction process. HCl scrubbing of the loaded organic phase effectively removed Fe. For subsequent ammonia stripping of the HCl-scrubbed organic phase, the optimal ammonia concentration was 1.25 mol/L. Further increasing the ammonia concentration promoted the saponification reaction of ammonia with P507, thereby reducing the Mo stripping efficiency. In summary, using multistage countercurrent extraction, increasing the H 2 SO 4 concentration in the leaching solution, and scrubbing the loaded organic phase with HCl facilitate efficient Mo/Fe separation, providing a feasible approach for the preparation of high-purity ammonium molybdate with broad application prospects.
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