Hydrodynamic Investigations on Heavy Metal Extraction in Membrane Extractors

Extraction of heavy metals in membrane contactors was investigated theoretically in this study. Extraction of Cu2+ with a kerosene solution of di(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) was studied. Simulations were performed using computational fluid dynamics of mass and momentum transfer in all subdomains of a circular membrane contactor. The membrane contactor consists of three sections: lumen, membrane and shell side. Conservation equations were derived for Cu2+ in the membrane contactor and solved numerically based on finite element method (FEM). With solving conservation equations, velocity, concentration and pressure distributions were obtained for solute. The simulation results showed that pressure drop is not appreciable in the membrane contactor. Furthermore, simulation results revealed that membrane contactors are efficient in the extraction of heavy metals.