Demetalization of oils resulting from recycled tires by liquid–liquid extraction using modified superheated water: An environmentally friendly approach

An approach based on continuous pressurized liquid–liquid extraction with 20% HNO3/1 M KCl/10−3 M EDTA as extractant has been developed for the extraction of metals from the oil resulting from recycled tires. A multivariate optimization of the main variables affecting the extraction process has been performed. The method has been applied to three oil samples with different contents in V, Ni, Zn, Fe and Cu. The target metals have been determined in both untreated and treated oil by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) in order to obtain the extraction efficiency. Under the optimum conditions, recoveries higher than 90% have been obtained with a repeatability and within-laboratory reproducibility, expressed as relative standard deviations, ranging from 2.75 to 6.91 and 2.97 to 8.16%, respectively. For applications where the demetalization does not require being complete, a study of the demetalization degree achieved depending on the extraction temperature and extractant composition has also been performed. This study provides useful data about the cheapest working conditions to be used in order to obtain a given demetalization level.