Investigation of the effect of nano complexes on the removal of phenol from waste water, Tikrit, Iraq

The importance of clean, safe, and unpolluted water has emerged as a prominent concern in contemporary times. Various industrial sectors, including but not limited to petrochemical, pharmaceutical, pulp, and paper industries, discharge organic substances such as phenols into aquatic ecosystems. These compounds are highly toxic to aquatic organisms. Therefore, it is imperative to give precedence to the elimination of phenol from polluted water owing to its detrimental impact on human health. The present investigation centers on a novel technique that employs a nanofluid in a hydrophobic polypropylene hollow fiber membrane contactor at ambient temperature to extract and strip phenol. The objective of this approach is to surmount the limitations inherent in the conventional liquid-liquid extraction technique. This study aims to investigate the impact of SiO2 nanoparticles on the process of phenol extraction from aqueous solutions and its subsequent stripping from solvents. The experimental methodology employed a TBP solution in kerosene as the solvent, with sodium hydroxide serving as the stripping agent. A study was conducted to investigate the impact of nanoparticle size and nanofluid concentration on efficacy, mass transfer, and the overall mass transfer coefficient. The objective of this study is to examine the impact of various operational variables, including flow rates of aqueous solution, organic solvent, and NaOH solution, pressure differentials between the solvent and aqueous solution or hydroxide, phenol concentration, hydroxide concentration, and TBP ratio, on the effectiveness of a system, with and without the presence of nanoparticles in the solvent. The results of the inquiry suggest that nanoparticles falling within the size range of 15-20 nm exhibited a negative correlation with mass transfer under the influence of solvent flow rates ranging from 50-250 ml/min. Conversely, it was noted that nanoparticles with a diameter of 50 nm exhibited a beneficial impact on mass transfer through the mechanism of Brownian motion. The main obstacle observed during the extraction and stripping stages of the transfer process was attributed to the resistance that hinders mass transfer within the solvent. As per the findings of the research, the optimal improvement in efficacy was noted at a nanoparticle concentration of 0.02 weight percent. The incorporation of nanoparticles into the solvent resulted in average enhancements of 20% and 18% in the extraction and stripping stages, respectively, compared to the results obtained without the presence of nanoparticles. An efficiency of approximately 98% was attained during the extraction and stripping stages by configuring the flow rates at 50, 150, and 300 ml/min for the aqueous, nanofluid, and NaOH solutions, respectively. The optimal removal efficiency was achieved when the pressure drop (∆p) was at 0.4 bar. The study revealed a direct correlation between the gradual elevation of alkalinity levels in NaOH and the corresponding augmentation in stripping efficiency, up to a concentration of 0.2M. Subsequently, a gradual decline in efficiency was observed. The nanofluid exhibited maximum extraction efficiency at a concentration of 10%v/v TBP-Kerosene.