On the large scale, selective metal ion separation is conducted in a liquid-liquid extraction process through an emulsion mixing of hydrophobic complexants in an organic phase and ions in acidic water. However, we demonstrate that liquid-solid extraction, where the final state of the separation is a solid phase containing the extracted ions, is also suitable for the separation of cations. In liquid-solid extraction, the selective precipitation of metal ions from an aqueous salt mixture occurs in the presence of a cationic surfactant, below its Krafft temperature (see Figure 1) [1]. By computing the free energy, we were able to identify the interactions between the surfactant micelle surface and the ions [2]. We demonstrated also that the hydrophibicity of the anionic complex is of importance to tune the selectivity of liquid/solid extraction.  [1] W. M�ller et al, Tenside Surfactants Detergents, 2011, 48(1), pp 40-47[2] W. M�ller et al, Langmuir submitted

Liquid-solid extraction of metallic cations by cationic amphiphiles

243rd National Meeting (2012)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.