Effect of different anions on separation of copper and zinc by supported liquid membrane using TOPS-99 as mobile carrier

In the present work, the effect of different anions such as Cl−, NO3−, SO42−, CH3COO− and ClO3− on the separation of copper and zinc by supported liquid membrane using TOPS-99 as mobile carrier was studied. Celgard 2400, a micro-porous poly-propylene film was used as the solid support for the liquid membrane. It was observed that, the presence of 10 mol/m3 of NaCl, NaNO3, Na2SO4, and NaClO3 in the feed solution enhanced the zinc flux, JZn from 2.5 × 10−5 to 4.52 × 10−5, 4.99 × 10−5, 5.2 × 10−5 and 3.333 × 10−5 mol/m2/s, respectively. Further increase of anion concentration up to 1000 mol/m3 in the feed, decreased the zinc flux to 3.45 × 10−5, 3.6 × 10−5, 2.19 × 10−5 and 2.00 × 10−5 mol/m2/s, respectively. In presence of CH3COONa in the feed, the zinc flux remained constant up to 10 mol/m3 but with further increase in salt concentration, the zinc flux decreased. At pH 2.5 the co-permeation of copper with zinc was negligible and the highest separation factor was obtained at this pH. The maximum values of separation factor obtained in presence of NaCl, NaNO3, Na2SO4, CH3COONa and NaClO3 were 1127.18, 1244.38, 1296.75, 623.44 and 831.17, respectively.