Kinetics of europium(III) transport through a liquid membrane containing HEH(EHP) in kerosene

Coupled transport of Eu(III) ions through a bulk liquid membrane containing mono(2-ethylhexyl)2-ethylhexyl phosphonate [HEH(EHP)] in kerosene has been examined. The influences of the carrier concentration, the HCl concentration in the stripping solution, the pH in the feed solution and the temperature were investigated. The transport of the Eu(III) ions is coupled by counter-transport of protons. The kinetics of the Eu(III) transport could be analyzed in the formalism of two consecutive irreversible first order reactions. The pseudo-first order apparent rate constants of the interfacial transport of the Eu(III) species are determined, varying temperature. The activation energy values are 14.0±1.0 and 54.0±3.4 kJ mol−1 for extraction and stripping, respectively.