The adsorption of cadmium (II) on freshly precipitated aluminium (III) hydroxide in the presence of a range of chelates has been investigated. By precipitating the metal, chelate and adsorbent together it is possible to change the pH variation of the metal-complex adsorption from anionic,“ligand-like”, binding to cationic binding. This is a general phenomenon and is explained by the formation of a ternary Al–O–Cd–L surface species. ...
