Solvent Sublation for Surface-Active Substances from Aqueous Solution,Comparison with Solvent-Extraction

The solvent sublation technique, a non-foaming technique, is originated by Sebba^1] as an option for ion flotation, in which the surface active solute in water is adsorbed on the surface of ascending bubbles and then collected in an immiciable solvent As we know that there are a number of features that make the technique more advantageous than that of the solvent extraction:the possibility of easy handling of large volumes of aqueous sample; the equilibrium state established not in the bulk of system but only at the aqueous-organic interface and the recovery of trace elements eventually reaching 100%; no emulsion formation^2-3]. Furthermore, the effluent water from a sublation column doesn't require further treatment to remove residual solvent. The handles are single and expenses are cheap, so the solvent sublation has the potential in the environmental treatment and the separation and preconcentration process^4-6]. The aim of this paper is to investigate the experimental possibilities of the solvent sublation and its intercomparison with conventional liquid-liquid extraction, in order to get more information on widely applications in the near future.