Studies on membrane stability and extraction of ciprofloxacin from aqueous solution using pickering emulsion liquid membrane stabilized by magnetic nano-Fe2O3

Significant features of the Pickering emulsion liquid membrane (PELM) as innovative trend of the traditional emulsion liquid membrane (ELM) such as simple operation, fast process, high stability and easy de-emulsification process have gained extensive responsiveness in the recent years. PELM consists of an n-heptane as the diluent, nano-Fe2O3 particles as a stabilizing agent, tri-butyl-phosphate (TBP) as an extractant and HCl acid in the internal phase that are used to remove ciprofloxacin (CIP) from wastewater. This paper comprises simultaneous studies of emulsion stability and extraction efficiency through various parameters, including homogenizer speed, emulsification time, nanoparticles concentration, external phase pH, internal to membrane volume ratio, internal phase concentration and extractant concentration. The results confirm that PELM is a very effective technique to extract more than 98% of CIP without significant emulsion breakage after a contact time of 10 min. The recyclability of the membrane phase and nanoparticles are also examined, and the results showed that the extraction efficiency was approximately the same after five times.