Facilitated transport of vanadium (V) by supported liquid membranes

A systematic study of the flux of complex vanadium anions through hydrophobic supported liquid membranes is carried out in sulphate media to determine the feasibility of this technique for the removal/recovery of this metal from diluted effluents. Preliminary batch experiments guide us to use mixtures of tertiary amine Alamine 336 and phosphine oxide Cyanex 923 as carrier, dissolved in aromatic diluents. The models previously derived to explain this process in transition state have proven not to be valid for this system due to the slow stripping kinetics of the process and the complex mechanism of the extraction process. Values for the permeability of vanadium in these conditions were obtained in order to have a basis for comparison with other metals. An empirical fit of these data is obtained, which can serve us as a first approach in the design of continuous processes for the recovery of this metal with supported membranes.