Polymer Inclusion Membrane's 10% Copoly-EEGDMA-Containing Membrane's Lifetime and Optimization for Phenol Transport

Abstract

In this research, Polymer Inclusion Membrane (PIM) was created using copoly-eugenol ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (co-EEGDMA) 10% as a carrier, dibenzyl ether (DBE) as a plasticizer, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) as the base polymer. Following that, the membrane was used in phenol transport experiments under a variety of circumstances, including pH of the phenol in the source phase, NaOH concentrations in the receiving phase, and transport times. The ability and stability of the membrane were also evaluated under several influencing parameters such as plasticizer concentration, salt concentration, and PIM membrane age (lifetime). Phenol concentration was analyzed using UV-Vis spectrophotometer, and PIM membrane was characterized before and after use using Fouriertransform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). According to the testing findings, phenol had an ideal pH of 5.5 in the source phase and a concentration of 34.07% in the receiving phase. Additionally, it was discovered that the ideal NaOH content in the receiving phase was 0.5 M with a phenol concentration of 58.24%. The experiments with varied transport times demonstrated that the optimum time was 48 hours with the phenol concentration of 90.82% in the receiving phase. The results of UV-Vis spectrophotometry analysis demonstrated that phenol transportation of 91.54% was achieved with the use of 0.3132 g plasticizer. Under ideal circumstances of pH 5.5 of phenol solution in the source phase, 0.5 M NaOH concentration, and phenol transport time of 48 hours, a membrane prepared from PVC as a base polymer, 10% co-EEGDMA as a carrier, and DBE as a plasticizer can be used to transport phenol. The membrane's stability was only 24 days when no NaNO 3 salt was added, but it grew to 108 days when 0.01 M NaNO 3 salt was added.