Mixed micelle-mediated extraction approach for matrix elimination and separation of some rare earth elements

• Mixed micelle-mediated extraction used for separation of some REE from concomitant ions.
• The developed procedure is sensitive, simple, rapid, and low-cost.
• The procedure is applied for the determination of target metal ions in Amphibolite rock sample.

A selective mixed micelle-mediated extraction procedure was investigated for simultaneously separation of Y(III), La(III), Nd(III), Sm(III), Gd(III), Ho(III), Er(III), and Yb(III) from different matrices prior to their determination using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The proposed procedure is based on the complexation of the target metal ions with Alizarin Red S and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) at pH 6 and then entrapped in Triton X-114 in the presence of KI at room temperature (25 °C). Under optimized extraction conditions, the limits of detection were ranged from 0.04 ng mL− 1 (Yb) to 0.92 ng mL− 1 (La). The developed procedure exhibited high enrichment factors (90–97-fold). Furthermore, the interference of diverse ions accompanying the target metal ions in their ores is tolerated by controlling the pH. The accuracy of the procedure has been validated through recovery experiments on spiked water samples and synthetic mixtures. The procedure was successfully applied for the determination of the studied metal ions in Amphibolite rock sample.