Influence of Micellar Media on Extraction of Copper(II) from Sulphate and Chloride Solutions using an N,N′-Bis(salicylideneaminoethyl)amine Multidentate Schiff Base

Abstract

Abstract The extraction properties of several organic ligands in micellar media have been investigated. In this paper, the extraction behavior of Schiff base ligand N,N′-bis(salicylideneaminoethyl)amine (H2SALDIEN) in the presence and absence of ionic surfactants in concentrated sulphate and chloride media has been studied. The physicochemical properties of H2SALDIEN, namely acidity, distribution, and extraction power were determined in pure water-chloroforme mixture (50 : 50) and in presence of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) and cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) micelles and were compared. The best distribution of H2SALDIEN occurs at low acidity and at high concentrations of SDS. Conversely, in the case of CTAB the best distribution is observed at low concentrations of surfactant and at the lowest acidity. The recovery of copper(II) from highly concentrated sulphate and chloride solutions was shown to be exalted with synergistic SDS- and CTAB-H2SALDIEN micellar mixtures using solvent extraction technique. Generally, the synergistic extraction seems to be more pronounced in presence of SDS compared with CTAB in both chloride and sulphate media.