Liquid-Liquid Extraction of Ferric Ions into the Ionic Liquids

Abstract

Imidazolium ionic liquids containing acetylacetone, thenoyltrifluoroacetone, or 8-hydroxyquinoline, respectively, were used as the extracting agents for the separation of traces of iron (III) from its aqueous solutions with or without citric and oxalic acids. The results show that 8-hydroxyquinoline in imidazolium ionic liquids extract iron quantitatively from all the tested solutions including complexing ones, regardless of indications of unexpected iron behavior/speciation.

Keywords

• ionic liquids
• liquid-liquid extraction
• iron extraction
• 8-hydroxyquinoline
• acetylacetone
• thenoyltrifluoroacetone