Modification of the separation efficiency of micellar enhanced ultrafiltration

In this study, feasibility of lowering the amount of surfactant in the filtrate and of attaining 100 % rejection in micellar enhanced ultrafiltration (MEUF) of Cu(II) ions, which are toxic heavy metal ions in waste waters, has been explored.For this purpose, at first the efficiencies of various polymers (alginate, polyvinyl pyrolidone, polyethylene imine, polyethylene glycol, ? - Carrageenan ) in decreasing the critical micellication concentration (CMC) of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) have been investigated at different pHs. Polymers which cause to a decrease in the CMC of SDS have been accompanied with SDS in removal of Cu(II) by MEUF, and the Cu(II) rejection coefficients have been determined by AAS. Among these polymers, the most efficient polymer in terms of the separation of Cu(II) has been found to be medium viscose alginate (OVA).OVA has been observed to impose a negative effect on the rejection of Cu(II) ions by MEUF when coexists with SDS in the medium. On the other hand, another observation has been that the presence of SDS at low concentrations enable to attain 100% rejection of Cu(II) ions in polymer enhanced ultrafiltration carried out with OVA as the complexing agent.The results have been discussed and rationalized.