Phenol removal from water by AG reverse osmosis membrane

Phenols are considered as organic pollutants that are discharged into the environment causing contamination of drinking water, aquatic life, and plants, and therefore, affecting human. Various treatment technologies for removal of the pollutants from water have been used such as, liquid–liquid extraction, ionic exchange with resins, and membrane processes. In this study, removal and adsorption of phenol from aqueous solutions were studied using a polyamide thin film composite reverse osmosis membrane denoted as AG 2514 TF from Osmonics company. The influence of different parameters, such as, feed concentration, ionic strength, transmembrane pressure, and recovery on the elimination of phenol was also studied. In addition, the effect of transmembrane pressure, feed concentration, and ionic strength on the adsorption of phenol was investigated. For a better understanding of the behavior of the membrane and to get more insights into the retention of phenol, the membrane was characterized with the determination of its surface charge and also by the mechanism of transport through this membrane. The results show that the retention of phenol by AG membrane exceeds 40% and may reach 80%. This was found to depend on feed concentration, ionic strength, transmembrane pressure, and recovery. The adsorption amounts were too low and did not exceed 23%. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 34: 982–989, 2015