Abstract
Emulsion liquid membrane (ELM) is an alternative to the existing separation processes, showing many advantages in terms of efficiency, energy consumption, and operational costs. However, development of an effective method for demulsification after extraction process without changing the oil phase chemistry is still great challenge. In this research magnetic Fe2O3 nanoparticles were used to prepare a new Pickering emulsion liquid membrane (PELM) system, in which the internal water and oil emulsion can be simply demulsified by magnetic force. The percentage removal of benzoic acid from aqueous solution by Pickering emulsion liquid membrane was investigated experimentally for various parameters such as, magnetic Fe2O3 nanoparticles concentration, internal phase concentration, treatment ratio, and mixing speed of feed solution. These parameters have a strong effect on the percentage removal of benzoic acid. Under improved membrane properties, it was found that the percentage removal of benzoic acid was as high as 99.74%, with emulsion leakage of less than 0.2%.