Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology => Topic started by: shaluu on 04/05/2011 08:49:41

Title: extracting zinc ions from the soils
Post by: shaluu on 04/05/2011 08:49:41

Hey everyone i just wanted to know how can you separate zinc ions from a soil sample? well, its for my science fair and I'm told to research on how to extract zinc ions from soils. I've practically looked everywhere but i cant find anything, hope i can get help here? any one got any ideas?

Title: extracting zinc ions from the soils
Post by: JimBob on 05/05/2011 03:59:37

Look up how zinc ore is processesd to get zinc from the ricks.

Title: extracting zinc ions from the soils
Post by: RD on 05/05/2011 09:01:18

Phytoextraction ? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytoremediation#Phytoextraction)

Title: extracting zinc ions from the soils
Post by: frethack on 05/05/2011 14:18:13

I know you can extract the ions and recover them through zinc chelation, but Im not sure of the procedure.

Look up 'zinc chelation' and see what comes up.

Title: extracting zinc ions from the soils
Post by: Bored chemist on 05/05/2011 19:30:37

I do chemistry for a living and I'm not sure how I could extract the zinc from soil and leave everything else behind.
It's not an easy task.
On the other hand, I could shake up the soil with ammonia solution which would remove zinc, copper and a few other metals.
If I added a strong alkali like sodium hydroxide then boiled that solution I would precipitate most of the other metals as hydroxides. I could filter them off and leave mainly the zinc in solution.
It's still not a trivial exercise and you would need some help on the practicalities and safety.