Performance of an acidic extractant (D2EHPA) incorporated in IM used for extraction and separation of Methylene Blue and Rhodamin B

Laboratory-scale experiments were carried out to investigate the adsorption equilibrium, the adsorption kinetics and facilitated transport of two cationic dyes (Methylene Blue (MB) and Rhodamine B (RB)) on Polymer Inclusion Membrane (D2EHPA-PIM). Different adsorption isotherms (Freundlich, Langmuir and Temkin models) as well as kinetics models indicated that the adsorption process is spontaneous and exothermic. Under the optimal conditions, the adsorption removal efficiencies reach about 93% and 97% for MB and RB respectively. Different extraction values by D2EHPA-PIM were obtained for the two cationic dyes: MB is weakly extracted at pH 2.0 (E% = 18.7%) whilst E% = 82.4% was observed for RB at the same pH. This difference was exploited in a mixture containg both the 2 cationic dyes for the selective extraction of RB at pH 2. Desorption of both dyes was achieved from the membrane by using acidic aqueous solutions and desorption ratio up to 90% was obtained. The formulas of the extracted complexes by the PIMs were, determined by the method of slopes. The dyes transport was elucidated using mass transfer analysis where in it found relatively high values of the initial flux (J(0)) as 41.57 and 18.74 mu mol.m(2).s(-1) for MB and RB respectively.