Title
Study on the adsorption and selective separation of indium from zinc with chelating cellulose
Authors
YOSHIFUMI AKAMA SHINJI SUZUKI and YOSHINORI MONOBE

Received March 26, 2014
Published Volume 50 Issue 1 January
Keywords indium,zinc, chelating cellulose, solid-phase extraction

Abstract
For selective preconcentration and separation of indium, functionalized cellulose with iminodiacetic acid (Chelest Fiber IRY-HW) was examined. The chelating cellulose as well as its indium complex was characterized by elemental analysis and IR-spectroscopy. The surface concentration of the functionalized ligand was determined to be 2.0 mmol g-1. The Langmuir adsorption capacity of the adsorbent for indium was found to be 1.5 mmol g-1. The applicability of IRY-HW for the selective separation of indium from metallic zinc and zinc sulfate compound was investigated. The maximum adsorption of indium was observed in the pH range 1.6-8.0 and the retained indium was eluted with 20 mL of 1mol/L HNO3. The effect of interferences on the sorption of indium ion was also studied. A preconcentration factor of 100 can be achieved by passing 2000 mL of sample through a column and using 20 mL of elution volume. The method can be successfully applied to the determination of indium in metallic zinc and zinc sulfate samples.