Electroextraction Separation of Dyestuffs

ABSTRACT

Electroseparation technologies have prospects for significant growth well into the next century. Electroextraction, a coupled separation technique of solvent extraction with electrophoresis, was used to remove dyestuffs from their aqueous stream. A study on the characteristics of the separation technique was carried out with n-butanol/acid-chrom blue K/water and n-butanol/methyl blue/water as working systems. A continuous separation equipment was designed and used in this work. The influences of two-phase flow, field strength, and concentration of the feed on the recovery of solute were studied. The results showed that much higher recovery of solute with less solvent consumption could be achieved by using this technique to remove dyes from their aqueous streams, especially for the separation of the dilute solution. When the field strength is increased, the recovery and mass flux increase. When the feed flow rate and the initial solute concentration are increased, the recovery decreases and the mass flux increases.

Key Words:

• Electroextraction
• Dyestuff
• Separation