Study on Competitive Transport of Heavy Metal Ions Through Liquid Surfactant Membrane

In the present work an attempt has been made to develop a mathematical model for competitive transport of Cr(VI) and Mo(VI) through liquid surfactant membrane from acidic solution using Alamine-336 and Caustic Soda as extractant and stripping reagent respectively. A reaction front has been assumed to exist within the emulsion globule in the proposed model. It has been assumed that, an instantaneous and irreversible reaction takes place at the membrane-internal stripping phase interface between the solute and internal stripping reagent. Experiments on simultaneous extraction of Cr(VI) and Mo(VI), in batch mode, from aqueous solutions of Potassium Dichromate and Ammonium Molybdate have been carried out with the initial concentration of the solutes between 50-100 mg/l. Experiment on emulsion stability has also been performed to arrive at a reasonably stable emulsion composition. Effect of initial solute concentration on distribution coefficient has also been found experimentally and fitted by a semiemperical model that has been used in the computer simulation of the simultaneous extraction process. It has been found that the experimental results are within reasonably close proximity with the simulated curves.