Application of a Liquid Membrane to Recover Cadmium

Abstract

# Recoveiy of toxic metals from industrial wastewaters is an important environmentalissue. The use of liquid membrane technology has gained momentum in recent years as it allows the reuse of water and toxic metals. In this study, a bulk liquid membrane consisting of D2EHPA (ionic extractant) in n-hexane (solvent) was used to extract cadmium from an aqueous solution simulating industrial wastewater, and ammonium acetate solution was used to strip cadmium from the membrane phase. Initially, equilibrium and kinetics experiments were performed to identrfL favourable operating conditions as well as extraction and stripping rates. Then bulk liquid membrane experiments, with simultaneous extraction and stripping, were performed. More than 90% of the cadmium was recovered using the bulk liquid membrane in 120 minutes.