Removal of iron from acidic aluminum chloride solution by solvent extraction

The selective removal of iron in high acid concentration solutions has an important role in industrial production. In this thesis, the removal of iron from acidic aluminum chloride solution by solvent extraction was investigated. Di 2-ethylhexyl phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) in kerosene was used as the organic phase. The effects of reaction time, organic/aqueous phase ratio (O/S), hydrochloric acid, D2EHPA, iron, aluminum, potassium and sodium concentrations on iron removal were investigated in artifıcial solutions. The ıron removal efficiency increased with increasing hydrochloric acid and D2EHPA concentrations. Studies in artifıcial solutions show that the chloride concentration has an effect on iron removal. As a result of the studies carried out to determine the number of extraction steps, the McCabe-Thiele diagram was obtained. According to the McCabe-Thiele diagram; While the organic/aqueous phase ratio (O/S) is 1/1, it has been determined that two stages are required theoretically to remove iron with >91% efficiency. Iron removal reached 95.58% in studies carried out at room temperature for 30 minutes with 20% vol. D2EHPA concentration and 1/1 organic/aqueous phase ratio in 2 M HCl pregnant leaching solution (real solution). The FT-IR spectrum reveals that Fe(III) forms a complex with D2EHPA and passes from the aqueous phase to the organic phase. The results showed that with the use of high selectivity D2EHPA from the acidic aluminum chloride solution successfully removal of iron with less than 2% aluminum loss. KEYWORDS: Acidic aluminum chloride solution, Iron removal, Solvent extraction, D2EHPA