Recovery of o-toluidine and p-toluidine from wastewater by silicon rubber membrane extraction

Wastewater treatment has become a major global issue due of undegradable pollutants. As toxic water pollutants, namely o-toluidine and p-toluidine are difficult to treat, this study uses the silicon rubber technology to treat them. A pair of modules having single tabular nonporous silicon rubber tube and HCl stripping solution were set up to extract o-toluidine and p-toluidine from high-saline wastewater. Reaction quotient ( Q C ) was calculated after every 12 h intervals to evaluate the equilibrium reaction. The effect of concentration, pH, temperature, ionic strength, and flow rate on the permeability (P) and removal efficiency ( η ) were investigated to illustrate the process parameters and mechanisms of recovery of both elements from wastewater. The results showed that the recovery efficiency was more than 96% with concentration of 2–10g/L. When pH of the extraction solution was 2 or less, the pollutant permeability efficiency was nearly 95%. Moreover, when the salting strength was over 10%, the recovery efficiency increased quickly to some extent. Permeability, which mainly influenced by membrane resistance and desorption rate, initially increased and then decreased when the water flow increased from 2 and 20 mL/min. Aging of silicon rubber tube was also studied with respect to salinity, temperature, and acidity. Acidity and temperature was found to have a significant effect on the tube, permeability increased with an increase in aging, and aging had a minor effect on the elastic properties of the silicon rubber tube. Absorption and diffusion of water in silicon rubber tubes decreased when salinity increased more than 10%, which increased separation of p-toluidine and water. Due to this, there is no need of desalination before membrane extraction in treatment of p-toluidine wastewater with high saline. Thus, this study demonstrates that membrane extraction is a highly energy-efficient process for the effective recovery of o-toluidine and p-toluidine from wastewater with high salinity.