Improvement in removal of Pb(II) using surfactant emulsion membrane from PCB wastewater by addition of NaCl

The present manuscript discusses the removal of Pb(II) from printed circuit board (PCB) wastewater by using surfactant emulsion membrane (SEM) in the presence of NaCl. This SEM was prepared by stirring together the strip phase (sulphuric acid) and organic phase (surfactant: Span 80, extractant: D2EHPA, diluent: n-Hexane) using high speed homogenizer. The feed phase consisting of various metal ions (Na, Ca, Mg, Co, Zn, Mn, W and Pb) was treated with emulsion phase by maintaining a treat ratio 1:10. The parameters such as the extractant concentration, internal phase concentration and contact time were studied and optimized. Further, the effect of addition of NaCl salt to the feed phase was considered using the optimized parameters. A significant improvement of extraction efficiency of 99% was observed in the presence of NaCl with more than 2.5 times enrichment as compared to 82% extraction with 1 times enrichment in the absence of salt. Thus, the NaCl addition has a remarkable effect on the selective removal of Pb(II) from wastewater. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.