Removal of phenolic compounds from aqueous solution using emulsion liquid membrane containing ionic liquid

Abstract

Phenolic contaminants are found in wastewaters of various industries such as petroleum refineries iron and steel manufacturing plants pharmaceutical coal conversion chemical as well as pulp and paper manufacturing They are one of the priority pollutants which need to be removed from effluents before discharge Various treatment methods like fenton ozonation distillation liquid liquid extraction adsorption pervaporation membrane extraction biological based processes and different kinds of electrochemical methods are practiced for their removal but all of these methods have some serious limitations such as high cost large volume of solvent usage applicability to a limited concentration range and inadequate purification Accordingly there is a need to study an alternative treatment method to remove phenolic compounds from aqueous solutions and industrial effluents In view of high cost of equipment and large volume of toxic solvents removal of phenolic compounds from wastewater has been intensively studied using the Emulsion Liquid Membrane technique