Use of deep eutectic solvent as extractant for separation of Fe (III) and Mn (II) from aqueous solution

In this work, we used deep eutectic solvent (DES) composed of decanoic acid and lidocaine, which is characterized as a green solvent, for separation of Fe (III), which is the most-used metal in the world, and Mn (II), which is currently being used in many industries. We found that the pH of the initial metal solution strongly influenced the extraction mechanism. Fe (III) can be extracted at pH 1.0–2.0 due to the ion pair reaction between Fe3+ and decanoic anion, while at higher pH, the extraction mechanism cannot be evaluated due to formation of precipitation at the aqueous phase. In the case of Mn (II), the ion pair reaction occurred at pH of lower than 2.2 and higher than 3.5, while from pH 2.2 to 3.5, the cation exchange between Mn2+ and lidocaine cation probably dominated the extraction process. The DES concentration needed to reach the complete separation of Fe (III) was about 25 g/L, while Mn (II) was completely extracted using about 300 g/L of DES. The selectivity of this method was very high when was applied in the separation of Fe (III) from Mn (II).