Mechanistic investigation of facilitated transport of gold(III) from HCl media using ionic liquid Cyphos IL102 as carrier across a supported liquid membrane

Abstract

The transport of gold(III) across a supported liquid membrane containing the ionic liquid Cyphos IL102 (trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium bromide) in Solvesso 100 has been investigated. The investigation was carried out under various experimental variables affecting to the transport process: stirring speed in the aqueous feed solution, HCl and gold(III) concentrations in this same phase, and carrier concentration in the membrane phase. The transport of gold(III) was compared against the transport of Fe(III), Cu(II), and Ni(II) from aqueous solutions containing the four elements, whereas the performance of Cyphos IL102 was compared, with respect to the gold transport, against other potential carriers for gold(III) from this acidic medium. Gold can be recovered in the strip solution as zero valent gold nanoparticles.