Activated composite membranes applied in heavy metal separation

Abstract

Recently the membrane separation processes have very often been used due to the simplicity and elegance of the selective gas, ions, or molecules transport through a very thin "barrier".Separation and recovery of metals has become very important in the last ten years because of the uncontrolled spread of the substances in the environment. The problem of selective elimination of toxic metallic ions from aqueous solutions followed by their recovery and reuse has a great ecological and economic importance.In this paper, the method of obtaining a new type of activated composite membrane is presented. The membrane obtained is characterised by different modern techniques and its behaviour is tested in the separation processes of metals, such as zinc (Zn), and gallium (Ga), from wastewaters. Metal content is determined by Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS).