Development and characterization of polymer inclusion membranes for the separation and speciation of inorganic As species

The Use of a Polymer Inclusion Membrane for Arsenate Determination in Groundwater

“…As reported by other authors [8,12], transport efficiency can be affected by both the amount of extractant in the PIM and the nature of the polymer. Therefore, various membrane compositions with different thickness were studied in terms of arsenate preconcentration in the stripping phase, after a 5 h contact time.…”

“…It was successfully applied in the analysis of different waters from the Pyrenees region with low conductivity values. These two previous works allows us to establish the conditions for the effective transport of inorganic As(V) in a transport cell (without preconcentration) [8], and to apply the membrane system in a PIM-based device to allow As(V) preconcentration and detection with good results after 24 h contact time for water samples bearing low conductivity [9]. In the present study, in order to extend the applicability of this separation system, we have evaluated and optimized the chemical and physical parameters that can affect the PIM-based device, such as membrane composition, stripping phase characteristics, and membrane thickness, in order to accomplish the preconcentration of arsenic species in a more convenient timescale and to broaden the applicability of the method to more complex groundwater (GW) samples.…”

“…In a previous study [8], a PIM made of cellulose triacetate (CTA) as the polymer and Aliquat 336 as the carrier was used for the transport of arsenate from aqueous natural samples to an 0.1 M NaCl stripping solution. Arsenate was transported through the membrane by the formation of the ion-pair [(R 3 R'N + ) 2 HAsO 4 2− ], which was released in the stripping compartment by exchanging arsenate with the chloride present in this phase [8].…”

“…Arsenate was transported through the membrane by the formation of the ion-pair [(R 3 R'N + ) 2 HAsO 4 2− ], which was released in the stripping compartment by exchanging arsenate with the chloride present in this phase [8]. Under neutral pH conditions, inorganic As(III) transport was negligible since it is mainly present as a neutral species and, thus, the developed PIM allowed the quantitative separation of both inorganic As species.…”

“…It was successfully applied in the analysis of different waters from the Pyrenees region with low conductivity values. These two previous works allows us to establish the conditions for the effective transport of inorganic As(V) in a transport cell (without preconcentration) [8], and to apply the membrane system in a PIM-based device to allow As(V) preconcentration and detection with good results after 24 h contact time for water samples bearing low conductivity [9].…”