Comparative study of copper (II) removal/recovery from aqueous solutions by bulk liquid membranes containing six different carriers

The removal/recovery of metals from secondary sources is an interesting research field from both economic and environmental view points. In this paper we study the removal/recovery of copper(II) from aqueous solutions by bulk liquid membranes through a carrier mediated transport mechanism using six different carriers. The efficiency of the different carriers is analyzed bases on the values of different transport parameters (flux and permeability through feed/membrane and membrane/product interfaces) and on the percentages of copper (II) removed from the feed phase, recovered in the product phase and accumulated in the membrane phase