Removal of Hg using emulsion liquid membrane

This is a article on the dismissal of mercury ions from a feed solution using an emulsified liquid membrane (ELM). The membrane was prepared by dissolving the extractant Alamine, used as a mobile carrier, and Span-60, a surfactant, in gasoline. The ELM allowed an efficient metal transport from the feed solution towards the strip liquor, in experiments carried out in a batch-type stirred tank at 25 0C. The experimental results to showed that the meaningful variables on mercury carry of through the membrane were the extractant concentration, the surfactant concentration, initial mercury concentration and the pH of the feed, strip solution. Concentration of H2SO4 as stripping agent affected only the initial metal extraction rate but not the extraction extent. The surfactant concentration range employed in this study adequately stabilized the membrane. However, it did not produce any positive effect on metal extraction. It was observed that the use of an excessively high content of surfactant produced lower metal transport extraction since it gave rise to a higher interfacial resistance. The experimental results reported show the potential for removal of Hg from the synthetic solution using an extractor based on emulsified liquid membranes. mercury in the aqueous phase was determined by Atomic absorption spectrophotometer.