Separation and Preconcentration of Boron with a Glucamine Modified Novel Magnetic Sorbent

A novel, simple method based on magnetic separation was developed for analytical purposes. In this method, N-methyl-D-glucamine (NMDG) modified magnetic micro-particles that were synthesized by using the sol-gel method were used for the selective extraction and preconcentration of boron from aqueous solutions. This method combines the simplicity and selectivity of solvent extraction with the easy separation of magnetic microparticles from a solution with a magnet without any preliminary filtration step. The structure of the prepared gamma-Fe2O3-SiO2-NMDG (magnetic sorbent) composites were characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The influence of different parameters on the sorbent capacity, such as the sorption/desorption of boron, magnetic sorbent dosage, pH, equilibrium time, type, and amount of stripping solution, were evaluated by using the magnetic sorbent. Any equilibrium pH greater than 6 can be used for sorption. Desorption from the sorbent was carried out by using 1.0 M HCl. The sorption and desorption efficiency of the gamma-Fe2O3-SiO2-NMDG was found as 92.5 +/- 0.5% and 99.8 +/- 6%, respectively.