The extraction and the removal of Cd(II) using polymer inclusion membrane containing symmetric room temperature ionic liquid as ion carrier

Since cadmium is a hazardous material for environment, various techniques have been developed for safe removal of cadmium. Among these techniques, ionic polymer inclusion membranes (IPIMs) have a higher membrane structural stability that can be used to separate and recover cadmium ions with a higher selectivity. Also, the ion transport capacity of IPIMs can be further increased by selecting suitable ion carriers and plasti-cizers. In this study, preparation of IPIMs was accomplished by selecting newly synthesized symmetric and having different alkyl chain room temperature ionic liquids as ion carriers for selective the separation of cad-mium from iodide-containing acidic solutions. The highest mass transport was determined as 0.958 & mu;mol s-1 cm-2 from 25 mg L-1 and 2.02 & mu;mol s-1 m- 2 from 75 mg L-1 Cd(II) solution, respectively, when using the optimized IPIM containing 24.97% (w/w) 2-nitrophenyl octyl ether as plasticizer and 35.12% (w/w) 1,3-decyl-1 H-imidazol-3-ium bromide as carrier. The mass transport of cadmium was determined as 0.567 & mu;mol s-1 m- 2 in the presence of Cr3+, Fe2+, Co2+, Ni2+ and Zn2+. Surface analyses were explored by scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), while the structural analysis was carried on by Fourier infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) before/after Cd transport experiments.