Tb(III) Transport in Dispersion Supported Liquid Membrane System with D2EHPA as Carrier in Kerosene

The transport of Tb(III) in dispersion supported liquid membrane(DSLM) with polyvinylidene fluoride membrane(PVDF) as the support and dispersion solution including HCl solution as the stripping solution and di(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid(D2EHPA) dissolved in kerosene as the membrane solution, has been studied. The effects of pH value, initial concentration of now and different ionic strength in the feed phase, volume ratio of membrane solution to stripping solution, concentration of HCl solution, concentration of carrier, different stripping agents in the dispersion phase on the transport of Tb(III) have also been investigated, respectively. As a result, the optimum transport conditions of Tb(III) were obtained, i.e., the concentration of HCl solution was 4.0 mol/L, the concentration of D2EHPA was 0.16 mol/L, the volume ratio of membrane solution to stripping solution was 30:30 in the dispersion phase and pH value was 4.5 in the feed phase. Ionic strength had no obvious effect on the transport of Tb(III). Under the optimum conditions, the transport percentage of Tb(III) was up to 96.1% in a transport time of 35 min when the initial concentration of Tb(III) was 1.0x10(-4) mol/L. The diffusion coefficient of Tb(III) in the membrane and the thickness of diffusion layer between feed phase and membrane phase were obtained and the values were 1.82x10(-8) m(2)/s and 5.61 mu m, respectively. The calculated results were in good agreement with the literature data.