Study Of The Stability Of Water-In-Oil Emulsion Intended for the Extraction of Heavy Metals Application: Copper Ions

Abstract

This work aims to optimize the parameters that affect the stability of a W/O emulsion to exploit it in the extraction of heavy metals contained in the liquid effluents. The study of the emulsion stability shows that; an emulsification time of 10 minutes, a surfactant concentration of Span80 equal to 3% (w/w), an extractant concentration of Triethylamine N(CH2CH3)3 equal to 5% (w/w), an internal phase concentration of phosphoric acid (H3PO4) of 0.75M, a volume ratio of membrane phase to internal phase of 1, a volume ratio of external phase to the emulsion of 20 and a stirring speed of 180 rpm; lead to the formation of a very stable emulsion with a very low rupture rate of around 1.92% after one hour of contact time. The results of extraction of copper ions revealed that under the best operational conditions, the extraction yield was closed to 93.33% for 20% extractant content, a contact time of 12 minutes, and an initial concentration of copper ions of 400 ppm. The application of this new membrane matrix based on phosphoric acid used as inner phase, sorbitan monooleate as a surfactant, and Triethylamine as extractant has been proven effective for extracting copper ions in water.