Separation of mercury(II) from petroleum produced water via hollow fiber supported liquid membrane and mass transfer modeling

Abstract

The separation of mercury(II) from petroleum-produced water from the Gulf of Thailand was carried out using a hollow fiber supported liquid membrane system (HFSLM). Optimum parameters for feed pretreatment were 0.2. M HCl, 4% (v/v) Aliquat 336 for extractant and 0.1. M thiourea for stripping solution. The best percentage obtained for extraction was 99.73% and for recovery 90.11%, respectively. The overall separation efficiency noted was 94.92% taking account of both extraction and recovery prospects. The model for this separation developed along a combined flux principle i.e. convection-diffusion-kinetic. The results showed excellent agreement with theoretical data at an average standard deviation of 1.5% and 1.8%, respectively.