The basic step for organic uranium and/or plutonium extraction involves first a thorough mixing of the aqueous and organic phases in order to max­imize the interphase area, and second a reseparation of the phases. Figure 9.3 shows a schematic view of this process.

Flux conservation implies that

IF(x0 — X1)=4(У0 — У1). (9.20)

Further, at equilibrium the concentrations are related by

У0 = DX1. (9.21)

In a single-step extraction У1 = 0. In this case, substituting equation (9.21) into equation (9.20) yields

— if

X1 = (IeD + If) X0 which gives the fractional recovery

= 4.У0 = x0 — X1 = 1

P IFX0 x0 (1 + (If/DIe ))