Analytical applications of condensed phosphoric acid-I Determination of ferrous and total iron in iron ores after decomposition with condensed phosphoric acid

A simple method is described for the determination of ferrous and total iron in iron ores. Iron ores are dissolved by condensed phosphoric acid (CPA) very rapidly without any tedious and time-consuming manipulations such as elimination of silica and filtration. Under the proposed conditions (amount of sample 100 mg, amount of CPA added 10 g, heating temperature 290 degrees , heating time 30 min), magnetite, limonite and hematite are completely dissolved. The iron content can be determined in the presence of condensed phosphoric acid by titration with dichromate solution, if a slight modification is made. The total iron in iron ores, determined by the present method, is in agreement with that found by the JIS method. The ferrous iron in iron ores can be determined by dissolving the samples with CPA in a nitrogen atmosphere and titrating with dichromate solution. Chelatometric titration of iron after solvent extraction with MIBK from solutions prepared by use of CPA is found to be accurate for samples such as pyrite cinder. The ability of CPA to dissolve various materials has been investigated.