Development of a new aerosol phase extraction method for metal determination through inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry.

In this work, a new extraction method termed aerosol phase extraction has been developed for the first time. The new method was based on the nebulisation of the sample onto the extracting solution to maximize the contact surface. The influential parameters are: agitation time, chelating agent concentration and inorganic acid concentration. The method has been applied to the extraction of molybdenum with organophosphorus chelating agents such as tributyl phosphate (TBP) and bis(2-Ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) dissolved in n-hexane from aqueous hydrochloric and phosphoric acid solutions. In order to test the efficiency of the method, the aqueous phase has been analyzed by means of Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry. The extraction of molybdenum under aerosol phase was found to be faster than the conventional extraction method. Equilibrium time was shortened under aerosol phase extraction and molybdenum extraction yields were comparable, or better as compared to the conventional method.