Simultaneous spectrophotometric estimation of iron, copper, cobalt and nickel in ocean nodule leach liquor

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Simultaneous spectrophotometric estimation of iron, copper, cobalt and nickel in ocean nodule leach liquor

Rane, M.V. / Srikant, K. / Menon, N.K. / Sadanandam, R. / Tangri, S.K. / Suri, A.K.

During the development of a solvent extraction process for the separation of nickel and cobalt from ocean nodule sulphate leach liquor, there was a need for fast and accurate analytical method for determination of these elements in various process streams. For the determination of copper, nickel and cobalt which are present in gm/litre level, simultaneous visible spectrophotometric method developed in our laboratory was employed. Iron which is present at <.0.2 g/l was estimated by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. It has been found that Iron (III) seriously interferes with the determination of nickel giving almost 10% higher values as confirmed by classical gravimetric method. Therefore, an attempt has been made to develop a fast and accurate method for the simultaneous determination of copper, cobalt, nickel and iron by visible spectrophotometry. The method developed eliminates the need for separate estimation of iron by atomic absorption spectrophotometry and nickel by gravimetry.