Modeling and simulation of copper-ion extraction with hollow fiber supported liquid membrane

Recently, hollow fiber supported liquid membrane (BYSLM) technology has been widely used for the selective separation and concentration of various species from dilute solution, especially metal ion separation, because it combines the process of extraction, stripping and regeneration into a single stage. In this work, the extraction of copper-ion through the hollow fiber supported liquid membrane containing bis(2-ethylexyl) phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) dissolved in kerosene as a mobile carrier has been studied. A mass transfer model of the system has been developed considering aqueous-layer diffusion in feed and stripping side, interfacial chemical reaction and membrane diffusion. The mathematical models representing both once-through mode operation and recycling mode operation have been proposed and relevant parameters affected on the removal efficiency of copper-ion have been studied and discussed. It was found that the developed models can provide the removal efficiency of copper-ion in good agreement with the experimental data (average error percentage and the standard deviation, 12.25 and 13.74, respectively).