Stirring-Assisted Cloud-Point Extraction of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

Abstract

A novel cloud-point extraction (CPE) process, namely, stirring-assisted cloud-point extraction (S-CPE), was developed with a stirring rate over 380 rpm in a PEG/PPG-18-18 dimethicone aqueous solution at a temperature over its cloud point. Compared with a general CPE process with centrifugation (C-CPE), the stirring process successfully accelerated the phase separation, where the whole process was able to be finished in 15 min and a lower water content in the surfactant-rich phase was also obtained, e.g., the water content was as low as 52 wt % at a 2 wt % surfactant solution, indicating a higher resulting distribution coefficient. The phase separation of the process was studied with dynamic lighting scattering. Because of the increasing contact chances between micelles and extractable species, the stirring operation is also in favor to increase the extractability of the CPE process, where higher recoveries of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were obtained even with a lower surfactant concentration,...