Phenol extraction with Cyanex 923: Kinetics of the solvent impregnated resin application

In the present work, experimental data concerning the kinetics of phenol extraction with a solvent impregnated resin (SIR) and the description with a kinetic model are presented. Phenol is extracted from aqueous solutions with macroporous polypropylene particles impregnated with Cyanex 923. The rate determining step of the phenol extraction kinetics is identified to be a combination of the complexation between phenol and Cyanex 923 and pore diffusion of phenol inside the SIR. Thus, a model based on chemical reaction and intraparticle diffusion is used to describe the experimental data. Using a sensitivity analysis, it is observed that the diffusivity and the physical equilibrium distribution K-phys have the most pronounced influence on the kinetic model. Increasing the temperature causes an increase of the reaction rate constant and the diffusivity. The kinetic model gives a reasonable fit of the experimentally determined phenol concentration profiles. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.