Title: Opportunities and challenges in supported liquid membrane technology for heavy metal extraction and recovery: a review

Authors: Lai Yee Lee; Norhashimah Morad; Norli Ismail; Mohd Rafatullah

Addresses: Department of Environmental Technology, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia ' Department of Environmental Technology, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia ' Department of Environmental Technology, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia ' Department of Environmental Technology, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia

Abstract: The present paper is an extended review on supported liquid membrane (SLM) for extraction and recovery of heavy metals, followed by the problems encountered during implementations and its potential outlooks for future applications. SLM technology integrates the processes of extraction, transport and re-extraction of heavy metals in a single continual system and has been proven with promising potential over other methods. Extraction and recovery of various heavy metal ions with several SLM configurations have been summarised. This review highlights the recent developments of SLM technology and the key issues related to their implementations with the performance efficiency and their apparent limitations. Substantial progress and breakthroughs to promote improvement of SLM are discussed. Future outlooks are also discussed to integrate this technology for better heavy metal extraction and recovery processes and to further broaden the research and development related to SLM.

Keywords: heavy metals; supported liquid membrane; SLM; heavy metal extraction; heavy metal recovery; membrane separation process.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEE.2018.097518

International Journal of Environmental Engineering, 2018 Vol.9 No.3/4, pp.324 - 354

Received: 09 Feb 2018
Accepted: 03 Aug 2018
Published online: 25 Jan 2019 *

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