Transport of palladium(II) through hollow fiber supported liquid membrane facilitated by nonylthiourea

The facilitated transport of Pd(II) from chloride media has been investigated through a hollow-fiber supported liquid membrane using nonylthiourea (NTH) as a carrier. The influence of the chemical conditions on the permeability of Pd(II) is reported. A model is presented that describes the transport mechanism, consisting of diffusion through a feed aqueous diffusion layer, a fast interfacial chemical reaction, and diffusion of carrier and its metal complex through the organic membrane. The diffusion resistances through organic membrane (Δorg) and through aqueous layer (Δaq), respectively, have been calculated from the proposed model. The permeability of Pd(II) seems to be governed by the diffusion of Pd(II) species through the hollow fiber supported liquid membrane with PdCl2(NTH)2 as a predominant carrier and PdCl2(NTH) to a lesser extent, though both have similar diffusion coefficients.