Supported Liquid Membrane Extraction Research Articles

Ultrasound-assisted leaching and supported liquid membrane extraction of waste liquid crystal displays for indium recovery

Indium recovery from waste liquid crystal displays (LCDs) was carried out by using ultrasound-assisted leaching (UAL) and supported liquid membrane (SLM) extraction. The leaching efficiency and purity of indium were approximately 97% and 94%, respectively, when using 0.75 M of sulfuric acid and 300 W of ultrasound power level. The highest extraction efficiency of indium was approximately 82%, obtained by using 20 vol% of D2EHPA fraction, 2 M of HCl concentration in the stripping solution and pH 3 of feed solution. The permeability coefficient, initial flux and reaction rate constant substantially increased with increasing D2EHPA fraction and feed solution pH, but HCl concentration provided little effect. If there is a synergistic effect occurring between the feed solution pH and the D2EHPA fraction, the permeability coefficient will be as high as 5.5 μm/s when using pH 3 of feed solution and 20 vol% of D2EHPA fraction. The overall recovery rate of indium can be close to 80%, and the indium purity of the final product solution can be almost 100%. If indium can be completely recovered in the extraction process, the final recovery rate of indium will be higher than 97%. Based on the findings of this study, indium can be efficiently recovered from waste LCDs by using the UAL and the SLM extraction methods.

Separation of Rare-Earth Elements Using Supported Liquid Membrane Extraction in Pilot Scale

Separation of Rare-Earth Elements Using Supported Liquid Membrane Extraction in Pilot Scale

Determination of Glyphosate and AMPA in Food Samples Using Membrane Extraction Technique for Analytes Preconcentration.

The method for determining glyphosate (NPG) and its metabolite AMPA (aminomethyl phosphonic acid) in solid food samples using UAE-SLM-HPLC–PDA technique was developed. Firstly, ultrasonic-assisted solvent extraction (UAE) and protein precipitation step were used for the analyte isolation. Then, the supernatant was evaporated to dryness and redissolved in distilled water (100 mL). The obtained solution was alkalized to pH 11 (with 1 M NaOH) and used directly as donor phase in SLM (supported liquid membrane) extraction. The SLM extraction was performed using 2 M NaCl (5 mL) as an acceptor phase. The flow rate of both phases (donor and acceptor) was set at 0.2 mL/min. The membrane extraction took 24 h but did not require any additional workload. Finally, the SLM extracts were analyzed using the HPLC technique with photo-diode array detector (PDA) and an application of pre-column derivatization with p-toluenesulfonyl chloride. Glyphosate residues were determined in food samples of walnuts, soybeans, barley and lentil samples. The LOD values obtained for the studied food were 0.002 μg g−1 and 0.021 μg g−1 for NPG and AMPA, respectively. Recoveries values ranged from 32% to 69% for NPG, 29% to 56% for AMPA and depended on the type of sample matrix. In the case of buckwheat and rice flour samples, the content of NPG and AMPA was below the detection level of a used analytical method.

Sensitive determination of illicit drugs in wastewater using enrichment bag-based liquid-phase microextraction and liquid-chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

To concentrate trace level of analytes in complex wastewater, sample preparation is necessary prior to instrumental analysis. In this work, an enrichment bag-based liquid-phase microextraction (EB-LPME) system was therefore proposed for the first time to isolate and enrich the illicit drugs (amphetamine, methamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), ketamine, codeine and fentanyl) from wastewater. Under the optimum EB-LPME conditions, the recoveries of the model illicit drugs were 40–93% with enrichment factors up to 93. The optimized EB-LPME was compared to hollow fiber-LPME (HF-LPME) in terms of the thickness of the supported liquid membrane (SLM), the effective SLM area, extraction recovery and mass transfer flux. Compared with HF-LPME, EB-LPME possesses larger effective SLM area, and provided higher extraction recovery. In addition, EB-LPME provided larger mass transfer flux than HF-LPME, which was mainly due to the differences in SLM thickness. Therefore, SLM thickness was identified as the main mass transfer flux-determining factor experimentally. The matrix effect of EB-LPME was evaluated using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), and excellent sample clean-up was confirmed. Subsequently, EB-LPME-LC-MS/MS was validated with satisfactory results, and the detection of limit of the proposed method was in the range of 0.3–8.7 ng/L. Finally, with standard addition method, EB-LPME-LC-MS/MS was successfully applied for the determination of the model drugs in a local hospital wastewater from Wuhan, China. This study clearly showed that EB-LPME displayed great potential as an efficient sample preparation method for isolation and enrichment of the drugs/pollutants from complex environmental samples for wastewater-based epidemiology in the near future.

Direct capillary electrophoresis analysis of basic and acidic drugs from microliter volume of human body fluids after liquid-phase microextraction through nano-fibrous membrane.

In the present work, a disposable microextraction device with a polyamide 6 nano-fibrous supported liquid membrane (SLM) is employed for the pretreatment of minute volumes of biological fluids. The device is placed in a sample vial for an at-line coupling to a commercial capillary electrophoresis instrument with UV-Vis detection (CE-UV) and injections are performed fully automatically from the free acceptor solution above the SLM with no contact between the capillary and the membrane. Up to 4-fold enrichment of model basic (nortriptyline, haloperidol, loperamide, and papaverine) and acidic (ibuprofen, naproxen, ketoprofen, and diclofenac) drugs is achieved by optimizing the ratio of the donor to the acceptor solution volumes (16 to 4 μL, respectively). The actual setup enables SLM extractions from less than a drop of sample and is suitable for pretreatment of scarce human body fluids. Two unique methods are reported for efficient clean-up and enrichment of the basic and acidic drugs from capillary blood (formed as dried blood spot), serum, and urine samples, which enable their determination at therapeutic and/or toxic levels. The hyphenation of the SLM extraction with CE-UV analysis provides good repeatability (RSD, 2.4-14.9%), linearity (r2, 0.988-1.000), sensitivity (LOD, 0.017-0.22 mg L-1), and extraction recovery (ER, 20-106%) at short extraction times (10 min) and with minimum consumption of samples and reagents. Graphical abstract.

Hollow Fiber Supported Liquid Membrane Extraction Combined with HPLC-UV for Simultaneous Preconcentration and Determination of Urinary Hippuric Acid and Mandelic Acid

This work describes a new extraction method with hollow-fiber liquid-phase microextraction based on facilitated pH gradient transport for analyzing hippuric acid and mandelic acid in aqueous samples. The factors affecting the metabolites extraction were optimized as follows: the volume of sample solution was 10 mL with pH 2 containing 0.5 mol·L−1 sodium chloride, liquid membrane containing 1-octanol with 20% (w/v) tributyl phosphate as the carrier, the time of extraction was 150 min, and stirring rate was 500 rpm. The organic phase immobilized in the pores of a hollow fiber was back-extracted into 24 µL of a solution containing sodium carbonate with pH 11, which was placed inside the lumen of the fiber. Under optimized conditions, the high enrichment factors of 172 and 195 folds, detection limit of 0.007 and 0.009 µg·mL−1 were obtained. The relative standard deviation (RSD) (%) values for intra- and inter-day precisions were calculated at 2.5%–8.2% and 4.1%–10.7%, respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of these metabolites in real urine samples. The results indicated that hollow-fiber liquid-phase microextraction (HF-LPME) based on facilitated pH gradient transport can be used as a sensitive and effective method for the determination of mandelic acid and hippuric acid in urine specimens.

Quantification of a bacterial secondary metabolite by SERS combined with SLM extraction for bioprocess monitoring.

During the last few decades, great advances have been reached in high-throughput design and building of genetically engineered microbial strains, leading to a need for fast and reliable screening methods. We developed and optimized a microfluidic supported liquid membrane (SLM) extraction device and combined it with surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensing for the screening of a biological process, namely for the quantification of a bacterial secondary metabolite, p-coumaric acid (pHCA), produced by Escherichia coli. The microfluidic device proved to be robust and reusable, enabling efficient removal of interfering compounds from the real samples, reaching more than 13-fold up-concentration of the donor at 10 μL min-1 flow rate. With this method, we quantified pHCA directly from the bacterial supernatant, distinguishing between various culture conditions based on the pHCA production yield. The obtained data showed good correlation with HPLC analysis.

Speciation Analysis of Labile and Total Silver(I) in Nanosilver Dispersions and Environmental Waters by Hollow Fiber Supported Liquid Membrane Extraction.

Hollow fiber supported liquid membrane (HFSLM) extraction was coupled with ICP-MS for speciation analysis of labile Ag(I) and total Ag(I) in dispersions of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and environmental waters. Ag(I) in aqueous samples was extracted into the HFSLM of 5%(m/v) tri-n-octylphosphine oxide in n-undecane, and stripped in the acceptor of 10 mM Na2S2O3 and 1 mM Cu(NO3)2 prepared in 5 mM NaH2PO4-Na2HPO4 buffer (pH 7.5). Negligible depletion and exhaustive extraction were conducted under static and 250 rpm shaking to extract the labile Ag(I) and total Ag(I), respectively. The extraction equilibration was reached in 8 h for both extraction modes. The extraction efficiency and detection limit were (2.97 ± 0.25)% and 0.1 μg/L for labile Ag(I), and (82.3 ± 2.0)% and 0.5 μg/L for total Ag(I) detection, respectively. The proposed method was applied to determine labile Ag(I) and total Ag(I) in different sized AgNP dispersions and real environmental waters, with spiked recoveries of total Ag(I) in the range of 74.0-98.1%. With the capability of distinguishing labile and total Ag(I), our method offers a new approach for evaluating the bioavailability and understanding the fate and toxicity of AgNPs in aquatic systems.

Experimental and Theoretical Studies of Actinide and Lanthanide Ion Transport Across Supported Liquid Membranes

In this work, we propose a new transport mechanism for metal ions relevant for used nuclear fuel separation processes by a supported liquid membrane (SLM). Two SLM extraction systems were investigated where the membrane was impregnated with either di-(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid (HDEHP) or tributyl phosphate (TBP). A HDEHP impregnated membrane was used to extract neodymium (III), representative of a typical trivalent lanthanide. Cerium, which was oxidized by sodium bismuthate from trivalent to tetravalent state, was extracted by TBP. Oxidized cerium was used as a surrogate for oxidized americium to investigate the kinetics and possibility of americium and curium separation by membrane extraction. Both extraction systems were operated at varying nitric acid concentrations, and changes in the kinetics and extraction efficiency of metal ions were investigated. The proposed transport mechanism that was chosen for our studies was modified from the previous works by Danesi et al.[1,2] and Cussler et al.[3] The mechanism was selected due to the ability to accommodate and describe transport phenomena across a SLM when formation of extractant nano-channels in the membrane may exist. We were able to obtain acceptable fit of the models to our overall data trends although chemical and physical conditions must be well established and purity and homogeneity of the membrane are critical. A reverse transport of metal ions was observed when leaving the system for longer times which agrees with our model. The membrane was investigated for degradation and shown to be stable after contact with up to 7 M nitric acid for over 2000 minutes. Finally, we examined the possibility of partitioning americium from curium using a SLM impregnated by TBP. Separation of americium from curium was observed although not to a degree that was expected based on the Ce(IV) transport. Incomplete oxidation of Am(III) to Am(V) and reduction of Am(VI) on the membrane surface are possible causes for this observed discrepancy. Our model was, however, able to accurately predict Cm(III) transport through the membrane.

Augmenting Microbial Fuel Cell power by coupling with Supported Liquid Membrane permeation for zinc recovery

Simultaneous removal of organic and zinc contamination in parallel effluent streams using a Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) would deliver a means of reducing environmental pollution whilst also recovering energy. A Microbial Fuel Cell system has been integrated with Supported Liquid Membrane (SLM) technology to simultaneously treat organic- and heavy metal containing wastewaters. The MFC anode was fed with synthetic wastewater containing 10 mM acetate, the MFC cathode chambers were fed with 400 mg L−1 Zn2+ and this then acted as a feed phase for SLM extraction. The MFC/SLM combination produces a synergistic effect which enhances the power performance of the MFC significantly; 0.233 mW compared to 0.094 mW in the control. It is shown that the 165 ± 7 mV difference between the MFC/SLM system and the MFC control is attributable to the lower cathode pH in the integrated system experiment, the consequent lower activation overpotential and higher oxygen reduction potential. The change in the substrate removal efficiency and Coulombic Efficiency (CE) compared to controls is small. Apart from the electrolyte conductivity, the conductivities of the bipolar and liquid membrane were also found to increase during operation. The diffusion coefficient of Zn2+ through the liquid membrane in the MFC/SLM (4.26*10−10 m2 s−1) is comparable to the SLM control (5.41*10−10 m2 s−1). The system demonstrates that within 72 h, 93 ± 4% of the zinc ions are removed from the feed phase, hence the Zn2+ removal rate is not significantly affected and is comparable to the SLM control (96 ± 1%), while MFC power output is significantly increased.

Supported Liquid Membrane Extraction of Reactive Dye Using Fabricated Polypropylene Membrane

This study investigates the transport of dye ions across a supported liquid membrane (SLM) by using tridodecylamine as a carrier and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) as a stripping agent. A microporous polypropylene membrane was used as a membrane support and prepared by the thermal induced phase separation (TIPS) technique. Two different TIPS techniques were used when preparing membranes: solidification and without solidification with polymer concentrations varied at 10, 15 and 20%. The results revealed that both techniques produced membranes with similar morphologies, but different pore size structures. The membrane with 15% polymer concentration which was prepared by the solidification technique produced a microporous membrane with a symmetric structure, defined pore size and high stability, and thus is feasible as the support material. The fabricated membrane was tested and the results revealed that 100% of reactive dyes was succesfully removed with 58% recovery from an aqueous solution. The fabricated membrane also exhibited high stability up to 25.5 h of extraction, thereby demonstrating an improved method for the separation of reactive dyes using a SLM.

A new selective liquid membrane extraction method for the determination of basic herbicides in agro-processed fruit juices and Ethiopian honey wine (Tej) samples

Supported liquid membrane (SLM) extraction was optimised for trace extraction and enrichment of selected triazine herbicides from a variety of agro-processed fruit juices and Ethiopian honey wine (Tej) samples. In the extraction process, a 1:1 mixture of n-undecane and di-n-hexylether was immobilised in a thin porous PTFE membrane that forms a barrier between two aqueous phases (the donor and acceptor phases) in a flow system. The extracts constitute the selectively enriched analytes collected from the acceptor phase and were analysed by transferring to a HPLC-UV system using a diode array detector at 235 nm. High enrichment factors were obtained with very good repeatability of results, and the detection limit was lower than 3.00 µg l−1 for ametryn in apple juice. The optimised method showed very good linearity of over 50–500 µg l−1 with a correlation coefficient of >0.990 or better for triplicate analysis. All chromatograms gave well resolved peaks with no interfering peaks at the retention times of the selected triazines, showing high selectivity of the SLM extraction method in combination with HPLC-UV for the selected matrices. The optimised method can be used as an alternative solventless extraction method for microgram-level extraction of other triazine herbicides and a variety of pesticides from liquid and semi-liquid environmental, biological and food matrices.

Supported liquid membrane-liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis of cyanobacterial toxins in fresh water systems

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are increasingly becoming of great concern to water resources worldwide due to indiscriminate waste disposal habits resulting in water pollution and eutrophication. When cyanobacterial cells lyse (burst) they release toxins called microcystins (MCs) that are well known for their hepatotoxicity (causing liver damage) and have been found in eutrophic lakes, rivers, wastewater ponds and other water reservoirs. Prolonged exposure to low concentrated MCs are equally of health importance as they are known to be bioaccumulative and even at such low concentration do exhibit toxic effects to aquatic animals, wildlife and human liver cells. The application of common treatment processes for drinking water sourced from HABs infested reservoirs have the potential to cause algal cell lyses releasing low to higher amounts of MCs in finished water. Trace microcystins in water/tissue can be analyzed and quantified using Liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (LC–ESI-MS) following solid-phase extraction (SPE) sample clean-up procedures. However, extracting MCs from algal samples which are rich in chlorophyll pigments and other organic matrices the SPE method suffers a number of drawbacks, including cartridge clogging, long procedural steps and use of larger volumes of extraction solvents. We applied a supported liquid membrane (SLM) based technique as an alternative sample clean-up method for LC–ESI-MS analysis of MCs from both water and algal cells. Four (4) MC variants (MC-RR, -YR, -LR and -WR) from lyophilized cells of Microcystis aeruginosa and water collected from a wastewater pond were identified) and quantified using LC–ESI-MS following a SLM extraction and liquid partitioning step, however, MC-WR was not detected from water extracts. Within 45min of SLM extraction all studied MCs were extracted and pre-concentrated in approximately 15μL of an acceptor phase at an optimal pH 2.02 of the donor phase (sample). The highest total quantifiable intracellular and extracellular MCs were 37.039±0.087μg/g DW and 5.123±0.018μg/L, respectively. The concentrations of MC-RR were the highest from all samples studied recording maximum values of 21.579±0.066μg/g DW and 3.199±0.012μg/L for intracellular and extracellular quantities, respectively.

Determination of Cd in Water Samples by Hollow-Fiber–Supported Liquid-Membrane Extraction Coupled with Thermospray-Flame–Furnace Atomic-Absorption Spectrometry

ABSTRACT A new method of hollow-fiber–supported liquid-membrane extraction (HF-SLME) coupled with thermospray-flame–furnace atomic-absorption spectrometry (TS-FF-AAS) for the determination of cadmium in water samples was developed. 1-Octanol was immobilized in the pores of the polypropylene hollow fiber as liquid membrane and used as the acceptor solution. Cd was selectively extracted from water samples into 1-octanol that filled the inner part of hollow fiber as the acceptor solution. The authors evaluated in detail some parameters that influence extraction and determination, such as the concentration of sodium diethyldithiocarbamate (DDTC), pH of samples, stirring rate, extraction time, flow rate of the pump, and interferences. Under optimized conditions, an enrichment factor of 146 could be obtained. In combination with thermospray-flame–furnace atomic-absorption spectrometry, a very low limit of detection (LOD) (5 ng L−1) was achieved. The relative standard deviation (RSD) was 4.3% for five determinations of 0.1 ng mL−1 cadmium. The accuracy of this method was validated by determination of certified reference water samples (GBW(E) 08607 and GSBZ(E) 50009-88). The proposed method was also applied to the determination of cadmium in tap water and river water, with the recoveries in the range of 90–96% for spiked samples.

Chemometric investigation of the effects of chemical properties and concentrations on the extractability of benzimidazoles with supported liquid membrane

Principle component analysis (PCA) and a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were employed in the study of factors affecting extractability of benzimidazole anthelmintics using supported liquid membrane (SLM) in liver, kidney, milk and urine at four concentration levels. The SLM extraction process was monitored by liquid chromatography - mass spectrometer (LC-MS). The results showed that the extractability of benzimidazoles is dependent on both the concentration levels and the chemical properties of compounds. Based on chemical properties, extraction of the compounds from the liver matrix showed no significant difference (p = 0.05) for the following pairs; albendazole and oxibendazole, thiabendazole and mebendazole, oxibendazole and fenbendazole, and oxibendazole and mebendazole. At some of the concentration levels, mainly between 1000 and 100, 100 and 10, and 10 and 1 µg/Kg, there was no significant difference. It was also found that, there was significant difference (at p = 0.05) in the extractability in milk between oxibendazole and albendazole, and also oxibendazole and fenbendazole. For milk also, the concentration range from 10 to 100 µg/L, showed no significant difference (p = 0.05). Urine matrix on the other hand, showed significant difference in the recoveries at all concentration levels.

Extraction matrine from Radix Sopheorae Tonkinensis by non-supported liquid membrane extraction technology

Non-Supported Liquid Membrane Extraction (NSLME) is a new development extraction technology based on Supported Liquid Membrane Extraction (SLME). Sample extraction assembly is composed of three phases: an acceptor phase: phosphate–sodium dihydrogen phosphate buffer solution at the bottom; an organic phase: chloroform applied as the non-supported liquid membrane in the middle layer; and a donor phase: aqueous solution samples containing alkaloids in the upper layer. The whole system is maintained stable by density difference among the three layers that avoided the mutual interferences. The alkaloid in the donor phase can spread to the underlying acidic acceptor phase, where it is able to form water soluble salt in the acid environment, and thus cannot return to the middle organic phase. Therefore, the transmission of alkaloid is a one-way path, and the extraction of alkaloids can be achieved and enriched. In this study, the extraction of alkaloid was carried out by using matrine aqueous solution as the donor phase, and the extraction quantity and efficiency were investigated by GC/MS. This study evaluated the relationship between extracted quantity and extraction time. The effects of extraction temperature, membrane thickness, pH value of acceptor phase on extraction quantity and efficiency were also studied, and the optimal extraction condition was found. The extracted quantity achieved the largest amount at 45°C when pure phosphoric acid was applied as the acceptor phase; the organic solvent volume was 0.2mL. The extraction of alkaloid from Radix Sophorae Tonkinensis was performed under the optimized condition. The extraction rate of matrine was up to 54% after a four-hour extraction. A huge advantage of NSLME technology is that the extracted alkaloid enjoyed high purity compared with that extracted by the traditional Liquid–Liquid Extraction (LLE).

Development of supported liquid membrane techniques for the monitoring of trace levels of organic pollutants in wastewaters and water purification systems

The supported liquid membrane (SLM) extraction technique has been developed and successfully used for the monitoring of trace quantities of ionisable organic contaminants, including 17β-estradiol and its metabolites, testosterones and their methyl ester derivatives, benzimidazole anthelmintic antibiotics and sulphonamides in aquatic systems. A number of parameters which control the mass transfer in the supported liquid membrane extraction process such as donor and acceptor pH, extraction time and the type of organic liquid membrane were optimised to enhance the efficiency of the liquid membrane in the removal of these compounds. The method developed gave very low detection limits (0.3ng/l to 2.4ng/l for 17β-estradiol and its metabolites; between 1μg/l and 20μg/l for sulphonamides; and between 0.1ng/l and 10ng/l for benzimidazole anthelmintic compounds). The SLM method showed good linearity, reproducibility and repeatability values and is therefore suitable for routine monitoring of such compounds in water and wastewater systems.

Recent Developments in Flow Injection/Sequential Injection Liquid-Liquid Extraction for Atomic Spectrometric Determination of Metals and Metalloids

This review aims to provide a critical overview of automated flow injection and sequential injection liquid-liquid extraction for preconcentration and/or separation of ultra-trace metal and metalloid species hyphenated with atomic spectrometric detection systems, including some new trends and applications in the subbranches of cloud point extraction (CPE), wetting film extraction (WFE), supported liquid membrane extraction (SLME), extraction chromatography (EChr), and liquid-phase microextraction (LPME) techniques. The analytical performance of flow-injection/sequential injection liquid-liquid extraction methods is markedly affected by the components of the flow network such as segmentor, extraction coil, and phase separator. Thus, an overall presentation of system components along with some novel strategies for interface with atomic spectrometers is discussed and exemplified with selected applications.

Studies of polyamines transport through liquid membranes with D2EHPA as a carrier

The transport of polyamines through the liquid membranes with di-2-ethylhexyl phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) was investigated. The study was performed in three main steps: liquid-liquid extraction (LLE), bulk liquid membrane (BLM) extraction, and supported liquid membrane (SLM) extraction. Equilibrium distribution experiments allowed determining the extraction constants and stoichiometric coefficients for each polyamine. It turned out that one amino group binds two molecules of carrier (one D2EHPA dimer) and the extractability of polyamine rises with the increase in number of function groups in the molecule. The BLM and SLM experiments showed that despite considerable differences in distribution ratio between various polyamines the extraction efficiencies for all of them are very approximate. The smaller diamines compensate the lowest affinity to membrane phase with faster interface reaction kinetics and higher diffusivity. Finally, the SLM extraction conditions were optimized. The main parameters that influence the transport are the pH of the donor and acceptor phases. The extraction efficiencies obtained for polyamines are high (80-90%) and give hope for an application in bioanalytical chemistry.

Supported liquid membrane extraction of 177Lu(III) with DEHPA and its application for purification of 177Lu-DOTA-lanreotide

Permeation of 177Lu(III) through supported hexane membrane containing di-(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid (DEHPA) as a carrier has been studied. The donor solution was 0.2 mol dm −3 ammonium acetate buffer, pH 5.0–5.5, that is optimal for peptide labeling, and the acceptor solution was 2 mol dm −3 HCl. A miniaturized supported liquid membrane (SLM) contactor with 10 μl donor and acceptor channel and ultra thin, flat poly(tetrafluoroethene) laminated on polyester fleece (PTFE) was applied in the work reported herein. The donor phase was pumped continuously through the donor channel, while the acceptor was stagnant during the SLM extraction. The influences of carrier concentration and donor flow rate on extraction of 177Lu(III) have been investigated. The results are discussed in the term of mass transfer coefficient, mass transfer resistance and extraction efficiency. Based on the experimental results of SLM extraction of 177Lu(III), this technique has been applied for the separation of free radionuclide from the labeled peptide as a purification procedure within the production of the radiopharmaceutical. An analog of somatostatin, lanreotide, which was conjugated with chelating moiety 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane- N, N′, N″, N ‴ -tetraacetic acid (DOTA) was labeled with 177Lu(III). The characterization of the labeled conjugate as well as the complexation yield and the efficiency of purification by membrane extraction were carried out by HPLC analysis.