Extractive chromatographic separation of mercury(ll) from acetic acid using capric acid on silica gel

Abstract

<i>n</i>-Capric acid (a liquid cation exchanger) coated on silica gel, quantitatively extracts mercury (II) from 0.01 <i>M </i> acetic acid solution in the <i>pH </i> range 4.4-6.0. The extracted mercury can be stripped with aqueous solutions of various acids and salts, and then analysed by flameless atomic absorbtion mercury analyser. The optimum conditions for extraction have been investigated. Mercury has been separated from chromium(III), manganese(II), cobalt (II), nickel (II), zinc (II), arsenic (III), antimony (III) and thallium (I) by exploiting the differences in the extractabilities of these metal ions, while the separation from aluminium (III), iron (III), copper (II), cadmium (II), lead (II), bismuth (III) and zirconium (IV) has been done by selective stripping.