Study of the possibility of extracting cesium in the form of cesium hexachlorocerate from hydrochloric acid solutions

The purpose of the present work was to investigate the possibility of extracting cesium in the form of Cs/sub 2/CeCl/sub 6/ from mixtures of rubidium and cesium chlorides, sodium and cesium chlorides, solutions of mixed alkali elements in hydrochloric acid, and a model mixture formed by leaching native pollucite with hydrochloric acid. The possibility of formation by rubidium chloride of a compound isostructural with cesium hexachlorocerate was considered. The action of hexachloroceric acid on rubidium chloride in the concentration range from 0 to 77.4 g/liter was studied. It was found that rubidium chloride was salted out when its concentration exceeded 18 g/liter. Salting out of rubidium chloride may be accompanied by partial coprecipitation of cerium. Study of the influence of alkali metals on formation of cesium hexachlorocerate in their presence demonstrated the possibility of extracting cesium chloride from hydrochloric acid solutions; this simplifies and shortens the time required for the separation process and raises the purity of the product (99.99%) and the degree of extraction of cesium into the precipitate (96 +/- 3%) above the existing levels. Cesium chloride can be extracted in the form of Cs/sub 2/CeCl/sub 6/ not only from solutions of pollucite in hydrochloric acid but alsomore » from other hydrochloric acid solutions in which the concentration of alkali chlorides present as impurities does not exceed the cesium chloride concentration. 4 references, 2 figures, 1 table.« less