Effect of Flow Rate and Eluent.The degree of metal ion
sorption on Amberlite XAD-2-HAPTSC was studied by varying
the flow rate of the solution. It was found that the optimum
flow rate for quantitative sorption of metal ions on the resin
bed was between 1.0 and 2.5 mL min
-1. However, at a flow
rate more than 3.5, a decrease in percentage sorption was
observed.
Metal elution from the column was studied by using different
concentrations (0.5-2.5 mol L
-1
) of nitric acid and hydrochloric
acids, and results are presented in Figure 2. As seen from
Figure 2, elution with nitric acid gave better results for three
metals as compared to hydrochloric acid and total elution was
attained at concentrations above 1.5 mol L
-1
. Hence, 2.0 mol
L
-1
nitric acid was selected as the eluent for the analysis of the
three metals.