COFLOTATION SEPARATION FOR THE DETERMINATION OF HEAVY-METALS IN WATER USING COLLOIDAL GAS APHRONS SYSTEMS

The separation and preconcentration of metal traces using CGA in connection with coflotation processes is described. A 4:1 mixture of anionic surfactants consisting of sodium dodecylsulfate and potassium oleate has been used to generate the CGA system, and Fe(OH)3 has been used as a collector. The separation process has been optimized using the Simplex Method (COFLOT computer program) complemented with a factorial design to investigate the influence of the different parameters in the investigated process. The results obtained evidenced recovery yields over 90% for the elements investigated (Cu, Co, Cd, and Ni), implying flotation times under 5 minutes as applied to samples of varying salinity, concentration, and volume.