Aliquat 336 and Isodecanol Study on Phenol Removal through Liquid Emulsion Membrane from Aqueous Solution

Abstract In this study, the extraction of phenol from an aqueous solution with the help of an emulsion liquid membrane (ELM) has been carried out. This membrane has the edge over the conventional separation processes in selectivity, efficiency, and feasibility. Certain factors such as surfactant, carrier, and diluent play an essential role in membrane synthesis. In our case, Span 80 (sorbitan monooleate) was taken as a surfactant, kerosene as a diluent, and Aliquat 336 and Isodecanol as carriers. Under different optimum operating conditions, it was found that external-to-membrane phase ratio, surfactant concentration, carrier concentration, agitation speed, time of extraction, membrane-to-internal phase ratio, and solute concentration were the significant parameters. At optimum conditions, 89.52% phenol removal has been recorded. The percentage removal changes with time, and it was seen that it tends to remain constant after a while. The experiment was also carried out in two stages, taking into account the higher concentration of phenol from around 1,000 ppm to a lower concentration of around 100 ppm. It was observed that the final concentration of phenol after the two-stage process had been reduced to around 7–10 ppm.