Tri-n-butyl phosphate

An effective process to recover, purify, or separate metals is liquid-liquid extraction, or more briefly, solvent extraction. In general, solvent extraction refers to a process that transfers one or more components between two immiscible (or nearly immiscible) liquid phases. Many solvents can effectively extract uranium, plutonium, or thorium from acid solutions. One solvent used for this purpose is the organophosphate tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP).