Pseudo-emulsion based hollow fiber with strip dispersion pertraction of iron(III) using (PJMTH+)2(SO42−) ionic liquid as carrier

The transport of iron(III) from acidic media using pseudo-emulsion based hollow fiber strip dispersion (PEHFSD) technology is investigated. As a carrier, (PJMTH+)2(SO42−) ionic liquid, generated by direct reaction of the commercially available primary amine Primene JMT and sulphuric acid, is used. Several hydrodynamic conditions were investigated: concentration of iron (0.01–1 g l−1) and sulphuric acid concentration (10−3–0.5 M) in the feed phase, carrier concentration (1–30%, v/v) and sulphuric acid concentration (1–3 M) in the organic and strip solutions, of the pseudo-emulsion phase. The values encountered for the membrane and feed resistances, 112 and 1000 s/cm, showed that the contribution of the membrane resistance is negligible, whereas the feed resistance contributes around 17% to the overall resistance value (near 5800 s/cm), thus, the interfacial resistances due to the extraction and stripping reactions appeared dominant. The performance of the system is also compared against other ionic liquids generated from available amine extractants (Primene 81R, Primene TOA, Amberlite LA2 and tridodecylamine) and other hollow fiber configurations.