Liquid film pertraction-A liquid membrane preconcentration technique.

A new liquid membrane technique for preconcentration of trace components from aqueous solutions is proposed. This technique, known as liquid film pertraction (LFP), provides simple and stable continuous operation and high enrichment factors. Experiments are carried out with two types of model systems, preconcentrating copper(II) ions and aromatic amines (m-toluidine). In the first case the liquid membrane of C(11)-C(13) normal paraffins, contained commercial chelating extractant LIX 65N, but in the second one the membrane of liquid paraffins with no additives was used. The influence of flow-rates of donor and acceptor solutions were studied as well as the effect of the membrane circulation and the initial solute concentration in the treated donor solution. Applying the new LFP technique enrichment factors in the order of 10 were obtained.