Shahrood University of Technology Journal of Mining and Environment 2251-8592 9 4 2018 10 01 Green extraction of Niobium and Tantalum from Kenticha Tantalite ore using 1-Ethyl-3-Methyl Imidazolium Chloride ionic liquid 785 794 1244 10.22044/jme.2018.6091.1425 EN G.G. Berhe Department of Chemistry, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia & School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jimma Institute of Technology, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia A. Velázquez Del Rosario School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jimma Institute of Technology, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia Y. Abubeker School of Chemical and Bio Engineering, AAiT, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia W. Girma Research and Development Directorate, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Ministry of Mines, Petroleum, and Natural Gas, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia T. Bogale Department of Mining Engineering and Metallurgical Engineering, Western Australian School of Mines, Curtin University, Australia C. Mulugeta Sisay School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jimma Institute of Technology, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia Journal Article 2017 08 07 The decomposition of the Ethiopian Kenticha tantalite ore was studied using the KOH fusion and H₂O leaching system at 400 ⁰C for a 1 h reaction time. The experimental results obtained showed that 27 wt% of Ta₂O₅ was mainly transformed into insoluble KTaO₃, not to be KNbO₃, and as well, into the dissolved liquor containing 94.73 vol% of Nb₂O₅ and 75.80 vol% of Ta₂O₅. The observations, supported by the EDXRF, XRD, and ICP-OES techniques, showed that the ratio of the dissolved mixture of Nb and Ta metal ions was beneficial to the solvent extraction from both Ta₂O₅ and Nb₂O₅. Niobium and tantalum were extracted from their neutralized alkaline dissolved and hydrolyzed solution by a new process using the EMIC/AlCl₃ ionic liquid as the extractant using selective stripping, precipitation, and calcination of a highly crystalline pure 99.84 wt% of Nb₂O₅ and amophours 90.81 wt% of Ta₂O₅. The compositions of the dissolved metal ions and solids were analyzed by the ICP-OES, EDXRF, XRD, and FT-IR techniques. https://jme.shahroodut.ac.ir/article_1244_3ff83bfb4b78083ed6bd449ee25ce5e7.pdf