Separation of Iron(III) with Ammonium Thiocyanate‐H2O‐n‐Propyl Alcohol Extraction System in the Presence of Sodium Chloride

The behavior and conditions of liquid‐liquid extraction‐separation of Fe(III) by ammonium thiocyanate‐H₂O‐n‐propyl alcohol system in the presence of NaCl were studied, and the possible reactive mechanism of extraction of Fe(III) was deduced. The study showed that, in the presence of a given amount of NaCl, phases were separated thoroughly between n‐propyl alcohol and water. In the process of phase separation, the complex [Fe(SCN)_n]^(3‐n) formed by NH₄SCN and Fe(III) was quantitatively extracted into the n‐propyl alcohol phase. The extracted Fe(III) exists in the n‐propyl alcohol phase mainly as the forms of Fe(SCN)₂⁺ and Fe(SCN)₃. Also, the relationship between extraction yield of Fe(III) and the amount of NH₄SCN agreed well with the quadratic equation E = 0.54 + 58.14x ? 8.39x² (E and x represent the recovery rate of Fe(III) and the volume (mL) of 0.1 M NH₄SCN respectively). The quadratic R‐Square is 0.9990. With this method, Fe(III) can be completely separated from Co(II), Ni(II), Mn(II), Al(III), Bi(III) and Cd(II) at pH 1.0?2.0. The present method was applied in determining Fe(III) in samples with satisfactory results such as relative standard deviation from 2.06% to 2.89% and recovery rate in the range of 98.4?101.4%.