The behaviour of various extractants for removal and separation of zinc and iron from waste industrial hydrochloric acid solutions was studied. As a most suitable extractant for zinc recovery and for separation of Zn(II) from accompanying Fe(II) and Fe(III) the reagent Kelex 100 was chosen. Per-traction in a rotating film contactor of both metals with Kelex 100 as a carrier was studied in batch and semi-continuous mode. Zinc was successfully separated from both Fe(II) and Fe(III), using as a membrane phase 15 vol.% Kelex 100, 15 vol.% n-octanol and 70 vol.% kerosene. In the case of semi-batch pertraction, the effect of feed solution flow rate on metal ions transfer was studied, also. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.