Extraction of phenol from water with supercritical carbon dioxide

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Abstract

Recent attention has been directed to supercritical extraction as a viable method for removing organic contaminants from water. The fundamental thermodynamic parameter of interest for the extraction of contaminants form water is the distribution coefficient, defined as the ratio of the mole fraction of con taminant in the supercritical phase to the mole fraction of contaminant in the water phase. We have conducted static equilibrium supercritical extractions of phenol (a common waste water pollutant from coal-coking processes used by the steel industry and those used by coal gasification plants) as a function of pressure and temperature using carbon dioxide as the solvent. Samples of the water phase were analyzed before and after extraction to determine the distribution coefficient. Values of the distribution coefficient ranged from 0.4 to 1.4. Vapor-liquid equilibrium calculations were performed using three cubic equations-of-state (with quadratic mixing rules) to correlate the data at each experimental condition studied. Due to variations in the binary interaction parameters as a function of pressure, further prediction of the distribution coefficient for conditions where experimental data does not exist does not seem feasible with these models. In addition, to develop a methodology to relate the extraction parameters to a viable parameter of interest we have monitored toxic activity via a short term bioassay to validate the extraction process and (through calibration of the test) provide an alternative method of determining the distribution coefficient. Specifically, the cytotoxic effects of phenol has been targeted.

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