Two-phase electrophoresis separation of dyestuffs from dilute solution

Dyestuffs are not efficiently removed by biological treatment or by convent ional dye treatment techniques. New separation techniques are required. Two -phase electrophoresis, a coupled separation technique of solvent extractio n with electrophoresis, can be used to remove dyestuffs from dye effluents. A study on the characteristics of the separation technique has been carrie d out with n-butanol-acid-chrome blue K-water, n-butanol-methyl blue-water and n-butanol-methyl red-water as working systems. Continuous separation eq uipment has been designed and used in this work. The influences of the two- phase flow rate, field strength and feed concentration on the recovery are studied. The results show that a high recovery with less solvent consumptio n can be achieved using this technique, especially for the separation of di lute solutions. As the field strength is increased, the recovery and mass f lux increase. When the feed flow rate and the initial solute concentration in the feed are increased, the recovery decreases and the mass flux increas es. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.