Selective Separation of Lead and Mercury Ions from Synthetic Produced Water via a Hollow Fiber Supported Liquid Membrane

A double module hollow fiber supported liquid membrane (HFSLM) was applied to selectively separate lead and mercury ions from dilute synthetic produced water. The experiments were investigated on several variables: types of extractants (D2EHPA, Cyanex 471, Aliquat 336, and TOA), concentration of the selected extractant and operating time. The results clearly showed that the double module HFSLM could selectively separate Pb(II) and Hg(II) in feed solution at a very low concentration to less than the regulatory discharge limit of 0.2 and 0.005 mg/L issued by the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Natural Resource Environment, Thailand. The highest extractions of lead and mercury ions from synthetic produced water were 96% and 100% using 0.03 M D2EHPA and 0.06 M Aliquat 336 as the extractant for the first and second modules.

Authors:

• S. Suren
• U. Pancharoen

Keywords:

• Hollow fiber
• Lead ions
• Liquid membrane
• Mercury ions
• Selective separation

References:

[1] D.R. Turner, "Speciation and cycling of arsenic, cadmium, lead and
mercury in natural waters, in: T.C. Hutchinson, K.M. Meema (Eds.),
Lead, Mercury, Cadmium and Arsenic in the Environment," John Wiley
& Sons Ltd., England, pp. 175-186, 1987.
[2] G. Corvini, J. Stiltner, and K. Clark, "Mercury removal from natural gas
and liquid streams," UOP LLC, pp. 3, 2007.
[3] D.L. Gallup, and J.B. Strong, "Removal of mercury and arsenic from
produced water," Chevron Corporation, pp. 1-9, 2007.
[4] M. Z. Barciszewska, M. Szymanski, E. Wyszko, J. Pas, L. Rychlewski,
and J. Barciszewski, "Lead toxicity through the leadzyme," Mutat. Res.,
Rev. Mutat. Res., vol. 589, pp. 103-110, 2005.
[5] F. Zahir, S. J. Rizwi, S. K. Haq, and R. H. Khan, "Low dose mercury
toxicity and human health," Environ. Toxicol. Pharmacol., vol. 20, pp.
351-360, 2005.
[6] Thailand regulatory discharge standards, Ministry of Industry, Thailand,
1996.
[7] B. S. Inbaraj, J. S. Wang, J. F. Lu, F. Y. Siao, and B. H. Chen,
"Adsorption of toxic mercury(II) by an extracellular biopolymer
poly([gamma]-glutamic acid)," Bioresour. Technol., vol. 100, pp. 200-
207, 2009.
[8] R. Guell, E. Antico, V. Salvado, and C. Fontas, "Efficient hollow fiber
supported liquid membrane system for the removal and preconcentration
of Cr(VI) at trace levels," Sep. Purif. Technol., vol. 62, pp. 389-393,
2008.
[9] U. Pancharoen, W. Poonkum, and A. W. Lothongkum, "Treatment of
arsenic ions from produced water through hollow fiber supported liquid
membrane," J. Alloys Compd., vol. 482, pp. 328-334, 2009.
[10] P. Kandwal, S. A. Ansari, and P. K. Mohapatra, "Transport of cesium
using hollow fiber supported liquid membrane containing calix[4]arenebis(
2,3-naphtho)crown-6 as the carrier extractant: Part II. Recovery from
simulated high level waste and mass transfer modeling," J. Membr. Sci.,
vol. 384, pp. 37-43, 2011.
[11] M. F. San Roman, E. Bringas, R. Ibanez, and I. Ortiz, "Liquid
membrane technology: fundamentals and review of its applications," J.
Chem. Technol. Biotechnol., vol. 85, pp. 2-10, 2010.
[12] I. M. Coelhoso, M. M. Cardoso, R. M. C. Viegas, and J. P. S. G.
Crespo, "Transport mechanisms and modelling in liquid membrane
contactors," Sep. Purif. Technol., vol. 19, pp. 183-197, 2000.
[13] U. Pancharoen, A.W. Lothongkum, and S. Chaturabul, "Mass transfer in
hollow fiber supported liquid membrane for As and Hg removal from
produced water in upstream petroleum operation in the gulf of Thailand,
in: M. El-Amin (Ed.), Mass Transfer in Multiphase Systems and Its
Applications," InTech, India, pp. 499-524, 2011.
[14] A. Escobar, K. A. Schimmel, J. de Gyves, and E. R. de San Miguel,
"Hollow-fiber dispersion-free extraction and stripping of Pb(II) in the
presence of Cd(II) using D2EHPA under recirculating operation mode,"
J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol., vol. 79, pp. 961-973, 2004.
[15] F. d. M. Fabrega and M. B. Mansur, "Liquid-liquid extraction of
mercury (II) from hydrochloric acid solutions by Aliquat 336,"
Hydrometallurgy., vol. 87, pp. 83-90, 2007.
[16] T. Francis, T. Prasada Rao, and M. L. P. Reddy, "Cyanex 471X as
extractant for the recovery of Hg(II) from industrial wastes,"
Hydrometallurgy., vol. 57, pp. 263-268, 2000.
[17] U. Pancharoen, S. Somboonpanya, S. Chaturabul, and A. W.
Lothongkum, "Selective removal of mercury as HgCl4
2- from natural gas
well produced water by TOA via HFSLM," J. Alloys Compd., vol. 489,
pp. 72-79, 2010.
[18] S. Suren, T. Wongsawa, U. Pancharoen, T. Prapasawat, and A. W.
Lothongkum, "Uphill transport and mathematical model of Pb(II) from
dilute synthetic lead-containing solutions across hollow fiber supported
liquid membrane," Chem. Eng. J., vol. 191, pp. 503-511, 2012.
[19] Y. Kawamura, M. Mitsuhashi, H. Tanibe, and H. Yoshida, "Adsorption
of metal ions on polyaminated highly porous chitosan chelating resin,"
Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., vol. 32, pp. 386-391, 1993.
[20] A. W. Lothongkum, S. Suren, S. Chaturabul, N. Thamphiphit, and U.
Pancharoen, "Simultaneous removal of arsenic and mercury from
natural-gas-co-produced water from the Gulf of Thailand using
synergistic extractant via HFSLM," J. Membr. Sci., vol. 369, pp. 350-
358, 2011.
[21] L. Iberhan and M. Wisniewski, "Extraction of arsenic(III) and
arsenic(V) with Cyanex 925, Cyanex 301 and their mixtures,"
Hydrometallurgy., vol. 63, pp. 23-30, 2002.
[22] B. Wassink, D. Dreisinger, and J. Howard, "Solvent extraction
separation of zinc and cadmium from nickel and cobalt using Aliquat
336, a strong base anion exchanger, in the chloride and thiocyanate
forms," Hydrometallurgy., vol. 57, pp. 235-252, 2000