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Title: Determination of labile copper, cobalt, and chromium in textile mill wastewater

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/501517· OSTI ID:501517

Copper, chromium, and cobalt species present in filtered wastewater effluent were separated by cation exchange and reverse phase chromatography. Three sample fractions were obtained: one containing metal cations (i.e., trivalent Cr, divalent Cu, and divalent Co), one containing organic species (including metallized dyes), and one containing other unretained species. The metal content of each fraction was determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). The sum of the corrected data was compared to the metal content of a filtered effluent aliquot digested totally with fuming sulfuric acid. Other aliquots of the filtered effluent were spiked with the metals of interest and digested to confirm chemical yield and accuracy. Method detection limits were consistently below 20 {mu}g L{sup -1} for Cu, 30 {mu}g L{sup -1} for Co, and 10 {mu}g L{sup -1} for Cr. Spike recoveries for undifferentiated Cu and Cr were statistically indistinguishable from unity; although Co spike recoveries were slightly low ({approximately}95%), its chemical yield was 98%. Copper retention on the sodium sulfonate cation exchange resin was closely correlated with the [EDTA]/[Cu] ratio, suggesting that metals retained upon the cation exchange column were assignable to labile metal species; however, mass balances for all three elements, though reasonable ({approximately}90%), were significantly different from unity. Mechanical factors may have contributed to the material loss, but other data suggest that some metal species reacted irreversibly with the reverse phase column. 3 refs., 2 figs., 4 tabs.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
W-31109-ENG-38
OSTI ID:
501517
Report Number(s):
ANL/ACL-97/1; ON: DE97007289; TRN: 97:004408
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: Jan 1997
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English