Transport and separation of carboxylic acids through bulk liquid membranes containing tributylamine

Abstract

In this study, transport and separation of carboxylic acids (formic, acetic, propionic, and butyric acids) from their aqueous solutions through bulk liquid membrane (BLM) containing tributylamine (TBA) and the parameters affecting the transport were investigated. The influence of the parameters on the separation process such as the stirring of membrane phase, the stripping phase type and concentration, the feed phase type, and the feed:membrane:stripping phase ratio (F/M/S phase ratio) were examined. In the experiments, 10% (w/w) acid solutions (formic, acetic, propionic, and butyric acids) were used as the feed phase, different concentrations of NaOH solutions within the range of 0-2N were used as the stripping phase, and 0.5mol/lt TBA, dissolved in oleyl alcohol, was used as the membrane phase. It was determined that the stirring of the membrane phase increases the transport of acids. In the case of 2 N NaOH solution in the stripping phase and F/M/S phase ratio 1:2:1 gave the best recovery (96.75%) for butyric acid. It was observed that BLM was an effective technique for the separation of carboxylic acids from aqueous solutions.