Electrostatic Splitting of the Emulsion Used in Liquid Surfactant Membranes Process for Metals Separation

A study has been carried out to investigate the effect of different parameters on the splitting process of the emulsion used in the liquid surfactant membranes process for metals separation. The influence of electric field strength, frequency of the applied ac voltage, and membrane recycling on emulsion stability have been studied. The investigations have revealed that there exists a unique optimal frequency range in which the best separation of the emulsion phases is obtained. The effect of the membrane composition and the variation of tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP) concentration has been shown to vary linearly with the splitting efficiency. This finding correlates quite well with Sadek and Hendrick's equation on the force causing coalescence in an electric field.