Removal of Acetaminophen Residues from Wastewater by Bulk Liquid Membrane Process

Abstract

The removal of Anit-Inflammatory drugs, namely; Acetaminophen (ACTP), from wastewater by bulk liquid membrane (BLM) process using Aliquat 336 (QCl) as a carrier was investigated. The effects of several parameters on the extraction efficiency were studied in this research, such as the initial feed phase concentration (10-50) ppm of ACTP, stripping phase (NaCl) concentration (0.3,0.5,0.7 M), temperature (30-50oC), the volume ratio of feed phase to membrane phase (200-400ml/80ml), agitation speed of the feed phase (75-125 rpm), membrane stirring speed (0, 100, 150 rpm), carrier concentration (1, 5, 9 wt%), the pH of feed (2, 4, 6, 8, 10), and solvent type (CCl4 and n-Heptane). The study shows that high extraction efficiency for ACTP of about 97% was achieved by a bulk liquid membrane at 50 ppm initial concentration of feed; stirring speed of feed phase 130 rpm; stirring speed of membrane phase 100rpm; 0.5 M NaCl concentration; carrier concentration 1wt%; volume ratio of 200ml feed:80ml membrane; feed pH of ACTP is 6, and 50˚C. The transport kinetics was evaluated using a kinetic model with two consecutive first-order irreversible reactions. The kinetics of (ACTP) transport by bulk liquid membrane was investigated at the best experimental conditions. The activation energy values of the extraction and stripping processes were 1.733 and 1.826 kJ.mol−1. The activation energy confirms that the transport process from solutions is controlled by diffusion.

Keywords

• Anti-inflammatory drugs, Acetamionphen (ACTP), Bulk liquid membrane, Wastewater treatment, Aliquat 336