Abstract
Two cation-exchange materials, aluminium tungstate (AT) and sodium dodecyl sulphate-aluminium tungstate (SDS-AT), were synthesized. Both samples were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis and scanning electron microscopy. The distribution coefficients for various metal ions on SDS-AT cation-exchange material were performed in different solvent systems. On the basis of distribution coefficient values, the SDS-AT cation-exchange material was found to be selective for the very toxic metal ion, Cr3+. The hybrid cation-exchange material offered a variety of technological opportunities for quantitative determination and separation of Cr3+ from synthetic mixtures of metal ions. Some binary and ternary separations of metal ions; viz., Cd2+-Cr3+, Zn2+-Cr3+, Cu2+-Cr3+, Pb2+-Cr3+, Mg2+-Pb2+-Cr3+ and Mg2+-Cd2+-Cr3+, were performed using a packed column of this material.