Chromium (VI) removal by Aliquat-336 in a novel multiframe flat sheet membrane contactor

• Published in: Chemical engineering and processing 2020-01, Vol.147, p.107765, Article 107765
• Main Authors: Semghouni, Hassina, Bey, Said, Figoli, Aberto, Criscuoli, Alessandra, Benamor, Mohamed, Drioli, Enrico
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aliquat-336; Cr(VI); Design of experiment; Membrane contactor; Multiframe flat sheet module
• ISSN: 0255-2701; 1873-3204
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cep.2019.107765

Overview of the multi-frame flat sheet membrane contactor (MF-FSMC) Effect of the number of plates on the Cr(VI) extraction. [Cr(VI)] = 100 ppm; [Aliquat-336] = 20 % (v/v); Qa, o = 0.28 ml/s; ΔPa, o = 0 bar; pH = 4.5; T = 18 °C; time = 360 min; Frame Thikness: 1 cm. [Display omitted] •Design of a flexible system named mult-iframe flat sheet membrane contactor (MF-FSMC) for Cr(VI) removal.•Effect of some physical parameters on the extraction efficiency of Cr(VI) (thickness of frames, membrane contact area).•Optimization of Cr(VI) extraction by a full factorial design of experiment. Recently designed, a multiframe flat sheet membrane contactors (MF-FSMC), consisting in ten parallel frames alternating aqueous and organic phase, was successfully used for chromium (VI) removal from aqueous solution. As a result, five chambers contain aqueous phase and the others contain the organic phase. Aliquat-336 was used as a carrier using polypropylene flat sheet membrane for Chromium (VI) removal. The results show that the extraction was more efficient by increasing the inlet chromium concentration and the number of frames but was not affected by the increasing of the thickness of frames (volume of chambers). To determine the interaction between different parameters, a full factorial design of experiment was used. The results show that the concentration of Aliquat-336 was the most important parameter, decreasing the efficiency of the system when increasing its concentration. Moreover, the temperature and the membrane contact aera have a positive effect on the extraction efficiency. However, no interaction effects were found in the chosen interval. The optimal values of different parameters are 10 % for Aliquat-336 concentration, 59 cm2 for the membrane contact area and 40 °C for the temperature.