| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to investigate the swelling of emulsion liquid membranes using dithio-DEHPA as carrier. The application of interest was the removal of zinc from a synthetic aqueous solution which simulates a zinc plant effluent. The effect of several variables such as the concentration of carrier in the membrane, stirring speed and permeation time on the swelling of the emulsion is reported. Experimental results show that occlusion depends mainly on the amount of carrier in the membrane and can be significant when the concentration of carrier is lower than 6.0%. The interfacial tension analysis confirms that the size of globules is influenced by the concentration of carrier in the membrane. Stirring speed and permeation time are related to the water transport and must be kept at low values. |
