Removal of organic dyes from water by liquid-liquid extraction using reverse micelles.

In the present work, solvent extraction using reverse micelles is proposed for the removal of organic dyes from water. In this approach, the dye is solubilized in the aqueous core of the reverse micelles, which are present in the organic phase. The organic phase is subsequently separated from the aqueous phase leading to signifi-cant removal of dye. Experimental results reveal that the electrostatic interaction between the oppositely charged surfactant head group present in the reverse micelles and the dye molecule plays a key role in the separation. The removal of the anionic methyl orange dye from water is carried out in the presence of cationic hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide surfactant, whereas the removal of the cationic methylene blue dye is carried out in the presence of anionic sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate surfactant. Amyl alcohol is used as the solvent. The influence of parameters such as dye concentrations, surfactant concentrations, pH, and KCl and NaBr concentrations on the percentage removal of dye was studied. The percentage removal of dye is decreased with the increase in dye concentration in the feed. The increase in surfactant concentration resulted in higher dye removal, because more reverse micelles could be hosted in the organic phase. The increase in aqueous phase pH resulted in enhanced removal of methyl orange from water, while in the case of methylene blue the percentage removal decreased. The increase in KCl and NaBr concentrations resulted in decreased percentage removal of methylene blue, whereas the percentage removal of methyl orange was increased. The effect of pH and salt concentration is explained based on charge transfer mechanism and electrostatic interactions and dye-surfactant complex formation.