Selective Determination of Chromium(VI) in Industrial Wastewater Samples by Micro-Electromembrane Extraction Combined with Electrothermal Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

This study describes application of free liquid membrane (FLM) in micro-electromembrane extraction (mu-EME) of Cr(VI) from wastewater samples. Amount of Cr(VI) was quantified by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. The transportation of Cr(VI) across the FLM was explored by electrokinetic migration and ion-exchange process. FLM and acceptor solution types, pH of donor and acceptor solutions, applied electrical potential, as well as FLM thickness were optimized. Presence of an anion exchange carrier (methyl trialkyl-ammonium chloride, Aliquat 336) in FLM facilitated Cr(VI) transportation. The best performance was observed for 1-octanol (containing 5% Aliquat 336) with thickness of 1 mm used as FLM, under applied electrical potential of 75 V, when 0.5 MNaClO4 and 0.1 M HCl were used as the acceptor and donor phases, respectively; and the extraction time was set to 5 min. Linearity was obtained in the working range of 0.5-14.0 ng mL(-1) Cr(VI) (R-2 > 0.98). The calculated limit of detection was below 0.06 ng mL(-1). Application of this method to wastewater samples showed that relative recoveries of the spiked Cr(VI) in the samples were in the range of 73.8-85.1%, based on the standard addition method.