Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of solvent extraction for the removal and recovering phosphate from wastewater and water sources. The results revealed that to achieve the maximum phosphate removal, the best extractant was a mixture of kerosene and benzyldimethylamine at a volume ratio of 2:1. A phosphate extraction efficiency of greater than 80% was achieved on the wastewater samples tested; a model solution and real sewage. A high stripping efficiency of greater than 90% was achieved from stripping, using 6M sulphuric acid. By mixing the recycled to fresh extractants at volume ratios of 2:1, it was possible to re-use the resulting extractant from the stripping process nine times, while maintaining the overall phosphate recovery efficiency. This research revealed that solvent extraction is feasible in the respect of phosphate removal and recovery and has potential for use as an alternative method for industrial applications.
Highlights
Eutrophication is accelerated due to the increase in the phosphorus and nitrogen loading in water and the increased growth of undesirable algae and aquatic weeds as a result of the over loading of phosphorus [1]
The preliminary experiments based on solubility tests of the seven chosen cationic surfactants (Table 2) revealed that benzyldimethylamine and dibenzylamine could be used as extractant as they were to be miscible in kerosene but immiscible in water
Benzyldimethylamine comes in liquid form from the manufacturer making it easy to use
Summary
Eutrophication is accelerated due to the increase in the phosphorus and nitrogen loading in water and the increased growth of undesirable algae and aquatic weeds as a result of the over loading of phosphorus [1]. A greater interest in solvent extraction (SE) for large-scale industrial application was initiated by the production of uranium and the reprocessing of irradiated nuclear materials in the U.S Manhattan project [4]. This aroused greater interest in the use of SE in other industries for the separation and purification of their products. Examples of this approach are recovering metals from water treatment sludge and effluents [5,6]. The soil and the extracting agent are separated once the pollutants are transferred to the fluid phase. The selection of an extracting agent has to take into account safety both to humans and the environment [7]
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