Treatment of ground waters in a hollow-fibre liquid membrane contactor for removal of ions

Metal ions exist in seawater, groundwater and industrial wastewaters. These source waters can be recycled if their concentrations are reduced. A number of processes can be applied for this purpose. Liquid-liquid extraction is one of the promising methods. In this paper, experimental results are presented on the removal of <i>Cr</i>(VI) using Aliquat-336, a reactive carrier, in sunflower oil (a non-toxic solvent). The performance of this new system is compared with those of kerosene (a toxic solvent). The extent of removal of <i>Cr</i>(VI) from samples with high and low concentrations are presented. The process was upgraded to a bench-scale module that can selectively remove about 50-90% <i>Cr</i>(VI) from samples of groundwater. Thus this process can produce water within the acceptable range for recycling and for use in secondary purposes such as irrigation.