Continuous flow liquid membrane extraction: a novel automatic trace-enrichment technique based on continuous flow liquid–liquid extraction combined with supported liquid membrane Original Research Article

Combining the continuous flow liquid–liquid extraction (CFLLE) and supported liquid membrane (SLM) extraction, a novel aqueous–aqueous extraction technique that we termed continuous flow liquid membrane extraction (CFLME) is developed for trace-enrichment. The analyte was firstly extracted into the organic phase in the CFLLE step, then transported onto the organic liquid membrane that formed on the surface of the micro porous membrane of the SLM equipment. Finally, it passed through the liquid membrane and was trapped by the acceptor. Aspects related to CFLME were studied by using dichloromethane as liquid membrane, and sulfonylurea herbicides as model compounds. An enrichment factor of over 1000 was obtained when 10 μg l−1 of MSM was enriched for 120 min by this technique. The drawbacks of only a few organic solvents can be selected as liquid membrane with a limited lifetime in SLM operation was overcome. In this CFLME method, almost all solvents that used in the conventional liquid–liquid extraction (LLE) can be adopted and the lifetime of liquid membrane is no longer a problem.