Application of a membrane contactor for a simultaneous removal of p -cresol and Cr(III) ions from water solution A. Witek-Krowiak*, R.G. Szafran, A. Koltuniewicz Wroclaw University of Technology, Norwida 4/6, Wroclaw 50-373, Poland email: anna.witek@pwr.wroc.pl Received 31 July 2007; revised 29 October 2007; accepted 5 November 2007 Abstract The aim of the study was to investigate the simultaneous removal of p -cresol and Cr(III) ions using a membrane contactor enhanced by a micellar solubilization. The investigations of solutes removal were performed taking advantage a polysulfone capillary membrane contactor in a counter-current mode and a micellar sodium dodecyl sulfate ions solution. The coefficients for a resistance in series mass transfer model were determined. Keywords: Membrane contactor; Cr(III) ions; p -Cresol; Surfactant 1. Introduction Heavy metals are toxic pollutants, which can accumulate in living tissues causing various diseases and disorders. Many industrial pro- cesses, like mining, metal plating, pigment, and battery manufacturing, result in the release of heavy metals to the aquatic system. Phenols are widely used in chemical, pharmaceutical, photo- graphic, and metal-plating industries and have hazardous influence on human health. The simultaneous removal of heavy metal ions and organic contaminants from aqueous solutions is a frequently encountered problem in the treatment of industrial wastewaters. Those contaminants must be removed from the polluted streams in order to reach environmental quality standards. In recent years, the intensive investi- gations of new effective separation processes have been observed. Membrane contactors can be used as an alternative technique to the classical solvent extraction processes [1  7]. The advantages of membrane contactors over classical extractors are high surface area per unit volume, possibility of changing the hydrodynamics of both phases independently, no need for different densities of Presented at the Third Membrane Science and Technology Conference of Visegrad Countries (PERMEA), Siofok, Hungary, 2–6 September 2007. *Corresponding author. Desalination 241 (2009) 91  96 0011-9164/09/$– See front matter # 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.desal.2007.1 .0 1 83