FACILITATED TRANSPORT THROUGH A LIQUID SURFACTANT MEMBRANE WITH CONTINUOUS PHASE RESISTANCE - ROLE OF DROP-SIZE DISTRIBUTION

An advancing reaction front model with drop-size distribution has been proposed for the case of facilitated transport through a liquid surfactant membrane. The model takes into account the continuous phase and outer liquid membrane phase resistances along with diffusion through a composite emulsion drop. The computed results are found to be in excellent agreement with the experimental data of Ho et al. The outer liquid membrane phase resistance seems to be an important parameter in controlling the overall extraction rate. Analytical solutions to model equations for uniform drop size are also presented in this study. The model is also capable of predicting the effect of various parameters on the overall extraction rate for the limiting cases of inverse Biot modulus tending to zero and infinity.