Operation with Three Liquid Phases in a Staged Liquid-Liquid Contactor

Abstract Operation with three liquid phases was demonstrated in a staged liquid-liquid contactor. The possibility that three liquid phases could be handled in a liquid-liquid contactor normally used with two liquid phases was initially established using a laboratory batch test. The three liquid phases were obtained using a thorium flow sheet having high concentrations of both acid and thorium. To analyze the batch test, the concept of a dimensionless dispersion number for use with two liquid phases was extended so that it could be applied to three liquid phases.