Phenol removal from water by hybrid processes: study of the membrane process step

Phenol and phenolic compounds are among the most prevalent forms of organic chemical pollutants in industrial wastewaters. Therefore, treatment of those wastewaters is required before final discharge to the environment. Among the different processes described for removal or degradation of phenolic compounds, hybrid processes that combine pressure driven membrane processes with adsorption processes have been developed. In order to optimise those hybrid processes, a detailed study of the effectiveness of the membrane process step is necessary. A study of phenol removal from aqueous solutions by reverse osmosis using different experimental conditions (feed phenol concentration, pressure and pH) and different membranes (SEPA-MS05, DESAL-3B and HR98PP) is carried out in this paper. The water and phenol permeability coefficients have been obtained according to the solution-diffusion model.