Considering the advantages of hollow fiber supported liquid membrane (HFSLM), it has been applied for extraction of Co(II) with a motivation to extract cobalt from various waste resources. Extraction efficiency and transport behavior of Co(II) through HFSLM containing Cyanex 272 diluted in kerosene were investigated. Experiments were performed as a function of aqueous feed solution velocity (1000 mL/min) for both feed and strip, pH of feed solution in the range of 4.00-6.75, the carrier concentration of 25-1000 mol/m3, and acid concentration in strip solution of 1-500 mol/m3on. The mass transfer rate or flux JCo(II), which is a function of metal concentration, volume of solution, and membrane area were analyzed. The optimum condition for extraction of Co(II) was pH of 6.00, Cyanex 272 concentration of 500 mol/m3 and H2SO4 concentration of 100 mol/m3.

This study was conducted to treat radioactive acidic wastewater, which contained radioactive ⁶⁰Co and ¹⁵²Eu. The wastewater can be generated during a decommissioning project to reduce the volume of radioactive concrete waste from nuclear facilities. With a variety of methods for separating the radioactive nuclides available, we evaluated the separation applicability of the solvent extraction method. From our results, Co and Eu could be easily extracted from the Ca rich wastewater using Cyanex301 (Co extraction (%) 99.8, Eu extraction (%) 99.6) without Ca extraction. On the other hand, Eu could be selectively separated by Cyanex272 (Eu extraction (%) 99.1) without Co and Ca extraction at pH 2~3. Therefore, the extraction method can be tailored according to the target radionuclides present in the wastewater and be selectively applied to the overall treatment process. By extracting radioactive Co and Eu from acidic wastewater to below the discharge criteria, treated wastewater could be regarded as non-radioactive industrial waste, to be economically and easily handled. Moreover, it may be possible to reuse separated Co and Eu for research and industrial applications by realizing waste valorization.