Selective recovery of Au(III), Pt(IV), and Pd(II) from aqueous solutions by liquid-liquid extraction using ionic liquid Aliquat-336

In this study, selective extraction and recovery of Au(III) from a tertiary metal solution containing Au(III), Pt(IV), and Pd(II) were investigated using ionic liquid Aliquat-336. The effects of Aliquat-336 concentration, solution pH, extraction time, and initial multi-metal concentration were examined in details. From the extraction efficiency and selectivity coefficient (alpha(sel)), it was noted that Aliquat-336 was a very fast and effective extractant for selective extraction of Au(III) from the multi-metal solutions. Through sequential extraction, high purity of each metal solution was separately obtained from low and high concentrations of multi-metal solutions. Therefore, the present study suggests a new way to separate and recover precious metals of high purities using ionic liquids. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.