An approach on a sustainable and stable continuous emulsion liquid membrane (CELM) for phenol recovery

Abstract

Throughout this work, continuous emulsion liquid membrane (CELM) was employed for the recovery of phenol using a primary water in oil (W/O) emulsion containing a mixture of kerosene and palm oil as diluent, Span 80 as a surfactant, and sodium hydroxide as a strippant. Several factors influencing the recovery of phenol namely rotational speed, treat ratio and retention time were examined and optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). Results revealed that about 29% of phenol was recovered with 7 times enrichment (2100 ppm) was concentrated in the internal phase under best conditions of 527 rpm of rotational speed, 1:4 of treat ratio and 2.6 min of retention time. Besides, an interaction effect of rotational speed and retention time was found to be significant towards phenol recovery in CELM. Thus, CELM has the ability to recover and concentrate the phenol for other applications.