The invention relates to the field of enrichment of
metal ions, and discloses a method for extracting
metal ions from fatty acids. The method comprises the following steps that (1)
saponification is carried out on a
fatty acid extraction agent through alkali; (2) the
saponification-treated
fatty acid extraction agent and an extraction mother solution are mixed, react with each other, are stirred uniformly and precipitated and are then subjected to
solid-liquid separation to obtain a
metal precipitate, and rare-earth metal ions or non-rare-earth metal ions in the mother solution are extracted;and (3) the metal precipitate is eluted through an acid liquid, and a metal-enriched solution and a regenerative
fatty acid extraction agent are obtained after liquid separation. The fatty acid extraction agent used in the method can be directly extracted from animals and plants, can be acquired from numerous sources at low price, is convenient to convey and store, good in biological compatibilityand easy to degrade and causes less
pollution to water bodies, the precipitates formed in the
precipitation process are large in particle size,
solid-liquid separation is easy, the
recovery rate of metal ions is high, the
enrichment factor is large, and the fatty acids can be recycled.