Characterization of humic acid extracted from aqueous solutions with polymer inclusion membranes

Abstract

Humic acid was extracted from the aqueous solution of sodium humate by using polymer inclusion membranes. Sodium humate was obtained by treating lignite from Kahramanmaras Afsin-Elbistan Region in Turkey. Lignite can be evaluated as humic acid source for organic fertilizer. PIMs were prepared by using cellulose triacetate as polymer, a cationic carrier, tricaprylmethylammonium chloride (Aliquat-336), modifier tributyl phosphate and plasticizer 2-nitrophenyl pentyl ether. A permeation cell was used for the separation fulvic and humic acid from sodium humate. In our study, the separation of humic and fulvic acids from polymeric membranes was investigated and partial separation was observed. Although, HCl is used in the separation process in the classical methods, we did not follow the same procedure in our method. The advantage of the new method is that it is a one-step separation and a clean process. Surface morphology of membrane and properties of extracted humic samples were compared with Fluorescence, UV, SEM and FTIR analysis. (C) 2017 Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.