2.3. Analytical Measurements
2.3.1. Electrokinetic Charge Measurements. Electrokinetic
charge of the nanocomposite suspensions and the effluents
before and after treatment were measured by means of a
particle charge detector (M¨utek PCD 03) with an automatic
titration unit (M¨utek titrator T2) using charge-compensating
polyelectrolytes as described by Rytwo et al. [6]. Electrokinetic
effects occur whenever there is a distortion of
counter ions due to movements of charged particles relative
to the surrounding solution, and are they are widely used
to characterize the charge distribution around colloidal particles
in an aqueous solution. Results were normalized to
μmolc/g (micromoles of charges per gram) of nanocomposite
or to mmolc/L of effluent, accordingly. All experiments
were performed in triplicate.