Modified Coated Copper Wire as a New Fiber for SPME-GC Analysis of Some Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

In this study for the first time, a novel copper Solid Phase Microextraction (SPME) fiber has been introduced for removal of naphthalene, phenanthrene and anthracene from aqueous solution. Copper was used as a solid support, which was at first coated by 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysi- lane. A stationary phase of oxidized multi walled carbon nanotube (MWCNTs)) was bonded to the surface of the copper wire. The developed SPME was characterized by IR and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and coupled to gas chromatography for separation of the analytes. Stability of the fiber, the effect of coating thickness and recovery time were optimized. The MWCNTs film thickness was about 5 μm which was perfect for a rapid mass transfer. The detection limits were at the range of 0.005 to 0.1 μg·L-1. The calibration curves were linear R2 > 0.9813 in the range of 0.01 to 5 μg·L-1. The method has been successfully applied for real samples with standard addition of 5 μL-1 of each sample. Stability study of the fiber to acid and alkali shows that it can be used for more than 50 times.

Rapid and Continuous Extraction of Methyl Red from Wastewater Using Counter Current Chromatography

A new prototype and simple low speed counter current chromatography (LSCCC) has been fabricated and a laboratory work has been carried out for rapid and continuous removal of methyl red from wastewater using xylene as an extractant. The distribution ratio (D) and percentage of recoveries were calculated. The optimum concentration for extraction of methyl red was in the range of 2 × 10-4 to 8 × 10-4 mol·L-1. Maximum extraction achieved at pH range of 2 to 4.5. Various dye concentrations and solvent effects were studied to optimized conditions. It was shown that when the ratio of the organic phase to aqueous phase increased to more than 3:1, the striping efficiency decreased sharply. The experiments were carried out for 5 times and the highest extraction achieved was 99.8 per cent by two-solvent system LSCCC in just 5 minutes. Real wastewater samples were analyzed and the efficiency of the technique was compared with liquid-liquid extraction (LLE). In practice it was shown that although both techniques are rapid, the efficiency of the LSCCC is much better than LLE.