Mass Transfer Simulation of Thallium Extraction by Butyl acetate in a Hollow-Fiber Membrane Contactor

A mass transfer model was developed to describe the solvent extraction of thallium by butyl acetate through a hollow-fiber membrane contactor (HFMC). The simulationswere performed using experimental data for two different modules consisting of hydrophobic polypropylene and poly vinylidene fluoride fibers of different effective membranesurface. The proposed model was based on solving conservation equations for the thallium in both aqueous andorganic phases as well as the membrane. The model equations were solved by numerical method using CFD. The model findings were verified through comparison with experimentaldata from literature. The results indicated that the developed model well predicts the general behavior of thalliumextraction versus process variables.