Separation of Zinc from Mixtures by Extraction Chromatography with Tributyl Phosphate

Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay-400 076

Manuscript received 2 December 1986, revised 3 August 1987, accepted 22 April 1988

A novel method was developed for extraction chromatographic separation of zinc with tributyl phosphate as the stationary phase. Zinc was extracted from 1 M ammonium thiocyanate and was stripped with 0.25 M ammonium chloride. In addition, all mineral acids of appropriate strength and ammonium acetate (2 M) were also effective as stripping agents. Zinc was separated from a variety of elements in binary and muiticomponent mixtures by exploiting the difference in their extractability or stripping characteristics by
different media. The method was extended for the analysis of zinc in soil and effiuent samples.