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Adsorption of Trace Metals on Glass Fiber Filters
Author(s) -
Fuhrmann Mark,
Fitts Jeffrey P.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.2134/jeq2004.1943
Subject(s) - adsorption , trace (psycholinguistics) , fiber , environmental chemistry , glass fiber , environmental science , heavy metals , chemistry , materials science , composite material , organic chemistry , philosophy , linguistics
Filters, containing glass‐fiber (GF) filter material, are commonly used as the primary filter or as the prefilter in sampling natural waters and laboratory experiments with high concentrations of suspended solids. We observed that GF filter material removed substantial quantities of trace metals from solutions of low ionic strength at near neutral and slightly acidic pH. The GF material sorbed essentially all Pb and Ag from 5‐mL aliquots of solutions containing 0.054 and 0.093 m M , respectively. Somewhat less Ni was sorbed from a 0.099 m M solution. This material retained about 43 μmol of Ag per gram of GF material (4600 μg/g). The Ag and Ni sorption was highest at low KNO 3 concentrations (as background electrolyte) and decreased to a constant concentration of sorbed metal at approximately 10 m M KNO 3 Glass‐fiber filter material should only be used with careful testing for the elements of concern under conditions that closely match expected environmental or experimental conditions.