Resin screening for the removal of pyridine-derivatives from waste-water by solvent impregnated resin technology

The selective removal of pyridine derivatives by solvent impregnated resins has been studied. A solvent impregnated resin consists of a macro-porous particle that is impregnated with a solvent. This technology allows the use liquid–liquid extraction in fixed-bed operation, and prevents problems like entrainment and irreversible emulsification. 4-Cyanopyridine was chosen as model pyridine derivative, and 4-nonylphenol was used as solvent. The aim of this study was to select the most suitable resin for this application. While in the literature there are mainly two types of resins used, MPP and Amberlite XAD type, a comparative study has not yet been conducted. In this study, a series of resins were impregnated with the solvent and applied in sorption experiments to study on the effect of the resin properties on the capacity, selectivity and mass-transfer rates of the solvent impregnated resins. It was found that the capacity could be estimated accurately with the previously developed liquid–liquid extraction equilibrium model. Additionally, the selectivity was determined by the solvent properties, and hardly affected by the resin matrix. The mass-transfer rates were primarily determined the by particle diameter, whereas the effect of the porosity is small. On the basis of the results it was established that Amberlite XAD4 had the best combination of capacity, mass-transfer rate, mechanical strength, selectivity and pressure drop over a fixed-bed column and was therefore chosen for a more detailed study. The results showed that the breakthrough curve is broad due to mass-transfer limitations. The loading cycle of the column could be described with great accuracy using the mathematical model developed in this study. Regeneration of the column could be performed efficiently with a pH-swing using hydrochloric acid at a pH of 1. The fixed bed column was percolated with 7000 bed volumes of aqueous solutions varying in composition. No reduction in the capacity was observed which demonstrated that the SIR consisting of Amberlite XAD4 and 4-nonylphenol is highly stabl