Development of palm oil-based synergist liquid membrane formulation for silver recovery from aqueous solution

Abstract

In this work, the palm oil-based synergist formulation containing a mixture of carriers for liquid membrane application of silver recovery from aqueous solution was studied. Several types of acidic carrier mixtures were investigated via liquid-liquid extraction procedure to increase the extraction performance. The results indicated that palm cooking is a promising vegetable oil-based green diluent in the formulation. A carrier mixture of 0.2 mM Cyanex 302 and 0.3 mM Cyanex 272 demonstrated synergism during the extraction process. It was found that more than 98% of silver ions from a very dilute solution was effectively extracted with a synergistic coefficient of 62.7. According to the individual and carrier mixture results, it can be deduced that Cyanex 272 and Cyanex 302 served as a carrier and synergist, respectively. Therefore, the developed liquid membrane formulation showed great prospect in silver recovery from the liquid waste solution.