Treatment of arsenic ions from produced water through hollow fiber supported liquid membrane

Treatment of arsenic ions from produced water coming along with a gas separation plant in the Gulf of Thailand by hollow fiber supported liquid membrane (HFSLM) was studied. Cyanex® 923 (a mixture of phosphine oxide), tri-n-butylphosphate (TBP), bis(2, 4, 4-trimethylpentyl) dithiophosphinic acid (Cyanex® 301), tri-n-octylamine (TOA) and methyltrioctylammonium chloride (Aliquat 336) were used as the extractants. The stripping solution was sodium hydroxide. The concentration of the extractant in liquid membrane and concentration of sodium hydroxide were examined. In addition, the influence of various numbers of runs of the stripping solution through the HFSLM on the concentration of arsenic ions in the outlet stripping solution was observed. Of all the extractants used, 35% (v/v) Aliquat 336 attained high percentages of extraction and recovery of arsenic ions because it reacted with both undissociated arsenic (H3AsO3) and dissociated arsenics (H2AsO4− and HAsO42−). Cyanex® 923, TBP and TOA had low extractability since Cyanex® 923 and TBP reacted only with undissociated forms while TOA reacted only with dissociated forms. In case of Cyanex® 301, although it offered a relatively high percentage of extraction but very poor recovery due to this extractant formed very strong complex species with arsenic ions, which slowed down and made the stripping difficult. It was found that the percentage of arsenic recovery increased with the concentration of sodium hydroxide and was almost constant after 0.5 M due to the limitation of mass transfer area of the hollow fibers. After 3-cycle separation, the extraction and recovery of arsenic ions from produced water were 91% and 72%, respectively. Accordingly, the concentration of arsenic ions of 0.1201 ppm in produced water was observed, which was in accordance with the legislation discharge of industrial effluent in Thailand. More arsenic ions were recovered by increasing the numbers of runs of the recycling stripping solution through the HFSLM.