Recovery of phenol from aqueous streams in hollow fiber modules

A setup with two parallel hollow-fiber modules was used to study the recovery of phenol from aqueous solutions. Cyanex 923, Amberlite LA-2, and trioctylamine (TOA) in aliphatic kerosene were used as carriers. A solution of 0.2 M NaOH was used for stripping. It was found that each of the studied carriers permitted the effective removal of phenol. Cyanex 923 showed the best performance, removing phenol in the shortest time and giving the highest fluxes and the highest mass-transfer coefficients. The maximum fluxes of phenol entering the receiving phase changed in the following ratio: Cyanex 923/Amberlite LA-2/TOA = 3.5/1.5/1. The mass-transfer coefficient in the extraction step changed in the same order: 34/5.2/1. The mass-transfer coefficients of the stripping step were 2-4 orders lower than in the extraction step and were comparable for each carrier: Cyanex 923/Amberlite LA-2/TOA = 1.1/0.7/ 1. Using Cyanex 923, only 5 min were needed to recover 99% of the pollutant from the aqueous stream, containing 0.5-2 g L-1 phenol.