The micellar enhanced ultrafiltration (MEUF) was studied for the removal of heavy metals using a mixture of non-ionic surfactant TWEEN-80 and anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS).The gel polarization model and resistance in series model were used to estimate the mass transfer coefficient (3 x 10-6 m/s) and the permeate flux. The total metal ion concentration was varied from 1mM-4mM and the corresponding effect of the trans-membrane pressure and limiting fluxes were studied. The modified resistance-in-series model was applied to these experimental data to correlate the flux with the feed concentration and applied pressure.

Lead, chromium, and chlorobenzene (CB) were removed simultaneously by micellar enhanced ultrafiltration with a mixture of anionic and nonionic surfactants. The process parameters, including the molar ratio of the nonionic surfactant to the ionic surfactant (α), surfactant to metal ion (S/M) molar ratio, applied pressure, and inlet flow rate, were investigated. As α was varied from 0 to 1.5, the rejection of the metal ions increased. The optimum α value was 0.5. The permeate flux decreased by 28% with increasing α from 0 to 1.5. The S/M ratio was optimized at 10 in the presence of CB. The addition of CB increased the rejection of surfactants and decreased the metal‐ion rejection. The effect of the applied pressure and inlet flow were studied and found to be optimum at 1 bar and 150 mL/min, respectively. The optimized parameters were applied to the steady‐state process. The multiple‐solute model was applied to the steady‐state data. The relative error for solute rejection was varied from 5 to 9%, and the relative error for flux was 5%. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 41435.