Copper removal from acidic wastewaters using 2-hydroxy-5-nonylbenzaldehyde oxime as ionophore in pseudo-emulsion membrane with strip dispersion (PEMSD) technology

Results on Cu(II) extraction from acidic media through pseudo-emulsion based membrane strip dispersion (PEMSD) containing Acorga M5640/Iberfluid as organic phase in the form of a pseudo-emulsion with H2SO4 were presented. The transport of Cu(II) is investigated as a function of several experimental variables: hydrodynamic conditions, feed solution pH, Acorga M5640 (salicylaldoxime derivative) concentration in the organic solution, and initial metal concentration in feed phase. In this membrane technology, pseudo-emulsion is an emulsion that is formed temporarily between organic and stripping solutions, both solutions are completely separated when mixing is stopped. The value of the overall mass transfer coefficient obtained under standard experimental conditions was 5.5 × 10−3 cm/s, being the recovery of copper in the stripping solution around 80–85%. The influence of the membrane support, the selectivity of Acorga M5640/Inerfluid based PEMSD towards different metals (Fe(III), Ni(II), Co(II), Zn(II), Cr(III)) an the performance of the system Cu/Acorga M5640/Ibefluid against other commercially available salicylaldoximes (LIX 860, Acorga PT5050) were also examined.