It is possible by bringing a mixture of lanthanides in a counter current mixer settler bank into contact with a suitable concentration of nitric acid to selectively strip (back extract) some of the lanthanides while leaving the others still in the DEHPA based organic layer.

It is common to use DEHPA in an aliphatic kerosene which is best considered to be a mixture of long chain alkanes and cycloalkanes.

It has been reported that Neste's HVO100 is a suitable diluent for DEHPA when calcium, lanthanum and neodymium are extracted from aqueous nitric acid[4] DEHPA is used in the solvent extraction of uranium salts from solutions containing the sulfate, chloride, or perchlorate anions.

Reminiscent of the behaviours of carboxylic acids, DEHPA generally exists as a hydrogen-bonded dimer in the non-polar organic solvents.

The synergistic effects are thought to occur by the addition of the trialkylphosphate to the uranyl-DEHPA complex by hydrogen bonding.

[7] Alternative organophosphorus compounds include trioctylphosphine oxide and bis(2,4,4-trimethyl pentyl)phosphinic acid.