Investigation of the impact of organic solvent type and solution pH on the extraction efficiency of naphthenic acids from oil sands process-affected water

• Liquid–liquid extraction of OSPW NAs using six solvents at three pHs (2.0, 8.5, 12.0).
• n-pentane, n-hexane, cyclohexane, dichloromethane, ethyl ether, and ethyl acetate.
• Extractability of molecules depends on polarity and ions on water solubility.
• Ethyl ether is an alternative to dichloromethane for extraction of Ox–NAs (2 ≤ x ≤ 4).
• Dichloromethane use can be discontinued to limit human health risk.

Naphthenic acids (NAs) from oil sand process-affected water (OSPW) were liquid–liquid extracted using six organic solvents (n-pentane, n-hexane, cyclohexane, dichloromethane, ethyl ether, and ethyl acetate) at three pHs (2.0, 8.5, and 12.0). The NAs exist in ionic (ions) and non-ionic (molecules) forms in the water phase depending on their dissociation constants and the solution pH. Results showed the extractability of NA molecules depends on the solvent polarity and the extractability of NA ions on the water solubility in solvent. The organic solvent type and solution pH were found to not only impact the extracted amounts of each NA species, but also the NAs distribution in terms of molecule carbon number and hydrogen deficiency. Overall, it is concluded that ethyl ether can be used as an alternative to dichloromethane (DCM) given their similar extraction efficiencies and extracted NA profiles. This is important since DCM is known to have metabolic toxicity and transitioning to the safer ethyl ether would eliminate laboratory DCM exposures and risk to human health. Despite the higher extraction efficiency of NAs at pH 2.0, extraction at pH 12.0 could be useful for targeted extraction of low-concentration nonpolar organic compounds in OSPW. This knowledge may assist in the determination of the specific NAs species that are known to have chronic, sub-chronic and acute toxicity to various organisms, and the potential targeting of treatment to these NAs species.