PNNL

Abstract

This paper will be submitted to the ACS journal, Analytical Chemistry. Abstract. The absorption spectra for single component mixtures of erbium(III) chloride, holmium(III) chloride, neodymium(III) chloride, praseodymium(III) chloride, samarium(III) chloride and thulium(III) chloride were obtained in 3 LiCl – 2 CsCl at 723 K. The absorption spectra were collected at various concentrations from 0 mM to approximately 200 mM (above which the solutions became saturated). Using this data and Beer’s law, molar absorptivities for the absorbance peaks for each lanthanide(III) chloride were obtained. Using the collection of single component spectra, multivariate regression models were created for each lanthanide metal studied. These models were validated against a new set of absorption spectra containing multicomponent mixtures of the selected lanthanides in the molten salt solution. Results of the regression models and predictions on the validation set of data are presented.