Phenol Removal from Aqueous Solution Using Emulsion Liquid Membrane Process: Batch Experimental Studies

Abstract

The present study deals with the removal of phenol from aqueous solution using the emulsion liquid membrane technique. Kerosene was used as a diluent, sorbitan monooleate (Span 80) was used as a surfactant and sodium hydroxide as the stripping agent. The effect of various parameters such as surfactant concentration in the range 1 to 6 (v/v)%, stirring speed in the range 100 to 600 rpm, volume ratio of membrane phase to internal phase in the range 1:1 to 6:1, NaOH as the internal phase concentration 0.01 to 3 M, stirring time in the range 2 to 10 min, volume ratio of membrane phase to the external phase in the range 1:1 to 1:6 and emulsification time in the range 20 to 120 second was studied. The maximum percentage removal for phenol was found to be 98.95 at the best preparation conditions were surfactant concentration 2% (v/v), stirring speed 400 rpm, volume ratio of membrane phase to internal phase 5:1, NaOH concentration 2 M, stirring time 4 min, volume ratio of membrane phase to the external phase 1:2 and emulsification time 1 minute. The increase of surfactant concentration increases the removal efficiency to a certain extent of 2% (v/v), the higher stirring speed the higher percentage of phenol removal until 400 rpm, increasing of NaOH concentration increases the removal of phenol, the removal efficiency of phenol increases with increasing volume ratio of membrane phase to internal phase up to 5:1 and decreases thereafter, the removal percentage increases with the increase of stirring time until it reaches a maximum value then starts to decrease, the increasing in the external phase volume lead to the reduction of phenol removal and the increase in emulsification time increases the phenol removal, but for long emulsification time the removal dropped.