Extraction of iron(III) from nitrate media with bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphinic acid

Solvent extraction of iron(III) from nitrate media using bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphinic acid as extractant has been proposed. A critical study of variou s parameters suggest that iron(III) can be quantitatively extracted in the pH range 2.0-4.5 using 0.009 M bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphinic acid in hexane. The organic phase is stripped using 0.75 M HNO3 and iron(III) determined s pectrophotometrically by thiocyanate method. The method is selective and ca n be applied in the presence of a large number of diverse ions. The method is found to be reproducible when applied for recovery of iron from real sam ples as well as its separation from other metal ions.