Separation of Hg(II) from Its Aqueous Solution Using Bulk Liquid Membrane

The focus of this paper is the separation of Hg(II) ions in anionic form from its aqueous solution through bulk liquid membrane (BLM). The efficiency of transport and extraction of Hg (11) through BLM was probed under various experimental criteria Such as choice of solvent, operating conditions, and configuration of the system that would render optimal functioning of the BLM. The solvent-carrier combination, dichloroethane-trioctylamine (TOA), shows promising result in the extraction of Hg(H). Investigation was carried out at various process conditions, such as different combinations of pH, initial feed and strip phase concentrations and carrier concentration, and their effects on the equilibrium distribution as well as on the transport of Hg(II) were studied. It was observed that mercury transport phenomenon highly dependent on feed phase pH. Increase of carrier concentration and strip phase concentration increases the transport of mercury up to a certain limit. Initial feed concentration has no significant effect oil the extraction of mercury up to 1 mg L-1.