A METHOD FOR THE HIGH-PERFORMANCE GEL-FILTRATION CHROMATOGRAPHY CHARACTERIZATION OF INORGANIC COLLOIDS

Colloids are potentially important adsorbents in natural environments and their characterization is a necessary step in understanding their chemistry and geochemistry. A method for determining the relative mole cular weight distribution of alumina, silica, and hydroxyaluminosilica te colloids by high performance gel filtration chromatography utilizin g a G3000 PWXL column and a refractive index detector is reported. Ana lytical parameters that affect the molecular weight distribution of th e inorganic colloids are discussed. The optimum analytical conditions for performing this analysis were found to be an ionic strength of 0.1 M (as NaN0(3)), a pH of 5, a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min, and a colloid c oncentration of 400 mg/L. (C) 1997 Academic Press.