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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1999  > December  >
In the Laboratory
Removal of Heavy Metals from Water: An Environmentally Significant Atomic Absorption Spectrometry Experiment
Brian P. Buffin
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit, MI 48221
Cover
December 1999
Vol. 76 No. 12
p. 1678
Abstract
A laboratory experiment that combines the environmentally significant topic of wastewater treatment with atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) is described. In the first portion of the laboratory project, students perform treatment studies on simulated wastewater samples that contain heavy metal contaminants common to the effluent of the metal finishing industry. Following pretreatment reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III), sparingly soluble metal hydroxides are produced by pH adjustment and removed by filtration with the aid of a polyacrylamide flocculant. In the second portion of the experiment, AAS is used to determine metal concentrations in treated and untreated water samples, thus enabling the students to determine the effectiveness of the treatment process. Details of how this experiment integrates topics such as the pH-dependent solubility of metal hydroxides, complex equilibria, matrix interference, and polymers in the context of an environmentally important analysis are presented.
Supplement
Instructor's notes, reagent and equipement lists, detailed experimental procedures, and an expanded discussion of the experiment are provided.
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*  Citation
 Buffin, Brian P. J. Chem. Educ. 1999 76 1678.
*  Keywords
 Analytical Chemistry; Atomic Spectroscopy; Environmental Chemistry; Instrumental Methods; Laboratory Instruction; Metals; Water / Water Chemistry
*  History
 Created:
Last Updated:		 November 10, 1999
November 22, 2005
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