INSTABILITY MECHANISMS OF SUPPORTED LIQUID MEMBRANES IN PHENOL TRANSPORT PROCESS

This paper describes an investigation of instability mechanisms of sup ported liquid membranes (SLMs) in phenol transport system. It was obse rved that any factor facilitating the formation and stability of oil-i n-water (O/W) emulsion, such as high HLB value, low electrolyte concen tration and high stirring speed, was favourable to the loss of membran e liquid and the resulting SLMs were unstable. The formation of O/W em ulsions accounts for the instability of SLMs in the present system. Fr om a thermodynamics analysis, it is shown that emulsification can be r ealised with the supply of a suitable energy. The energy in the SLM pr ocesses can come from the forced Bow of aqueous solutions and the hydr odynamic instability of the interfaces. Once loss of membrane liquid o ccurs, the vacated space is mainly filled with the membrane phase thro ugh the movement along the membrane capillaries and hence further loss can continue in the same way.