The Transport of Copper(II) through Hollow Fiber Renewal Liquid Membrane and Hollow Fiber Supported Liquid Membrane

Abstract

In this paper, hollow fiber renewal liquid membrane (HFRLM) and hollow fiber supported liquid membrane (HFSLM) were used to simultaneously remove and recover copper(II) from aqueous solutions, and the transport performance of these two techniques were compared under the similar conditions for the system of CuSO₄ +D2EHPA in kerosene +HCl. The results showed that the HFRLM process was more stable than the HFSLM process. The HFRLM process had a higher overall mass transfer coefficient than that of HFSLM process in single-pass experiments. These were because the renewal effect of the liquid membrane layer could reduce the mass transfer resistance of the lumen side and replenish the loss of the membrane liquid in the HFRLM process. The transport results were better in the HFRLM process than that in the HFSLM process with recycling experiments. Therefore, HFRLM technique is a promising method for simultaneous removal and recovery of heavy metal from aqueous solutions.