Abstract
Abstract: Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to investigate water extraction into a solution of 30 vol% tri-n-butyl-phosphate (TBP) in n-dodecane. This solvent extraction mixture is commonly used in hydrometallurgical and nuclear fuel recycling operations for recovering metals from aqueous streams. It is known that water is coextracted in the organic phase and that it competes with metal ions for the available extractant agent (TBP). Therefore investigating pure water extraction provides a realistic prototype to test molecular simulation methods for the first time in this area. Our computational results indicate that the TBP electric dipole moment has a significant effect on the predicted water solubility. A larger TBP dipole moment decreases the aqueous-organic interfacial tension, leading to increased roughness of the aqueous-organic interface. Interfacial roughness has a significant effect on disrupting the interfacial water hydrogen bonding structure, resulting in a greater number of dangling water molecules at the interface. This enhances the probability of water molecules to break away from the aqueous phase and to migrate into the bulk of the organic phase. Therefore, the magnitude of the TBP dipole moment is a crucial factor in controlling water hydrogen bond breaking at the aqueous-organic interface. By slightly lowering the atomic partial charges of the TBP atoms, to produce a dipole moment that better agrees with experimental data, we were able to predict water solubility in close agreement with experimental measurements. Hence we demonstrate that a molecular modeling and simulation approach may provide quantitative support to experimental programs in this area. In addition, our simulation results shed light into the molecular mechanism of water extraction, the critical role of TBP, and the structural forms of water molecules both at the interface and in the bulk of the organic phase. Specifically, it is found that water molecules are extracted either as single molecules or as clusters. Furthermore, within the organic phase, the extracted water forms clusters with up to 20 water molecules, however, more than 70% of these water clusters contain less than 5 water molecules when the water extraction process reaches saturation.