Continuous-Flow Extraction

Flow techniques have no doubt aroused especial interest in relation to many other automatic methodologies of analysis. Ever since segmented flow analysis (SFA) was developed by Skeggs in 1957, flow techniques have been in continuous evolution toward new developments such as those of flow injection analysis (FIA) by Ruzicka and Hansen in 1975; sequential injection analysis (SIA), an alternative to FIA, by Ruzicka and Marshall in 1990; multicommuted flow analysis (MCFIA) by Reis et al. in 1994; and, more recently, multisyringe flow injection analysis (MSFIA) by Cerdà et al. in 1999, lab-on-valve (LOV) by Ruzicka in 2000, multipumping flow systems (MPFS) by Lapa et al. in 2002, and lab-in-a-syringe in 2012. This chapter will be devoted to application of the main automatic flow techniques to liquid-liquid extraction procedures.