Biosurfactant assisted liquid-membrane extraction of methyl-orange from aqueous solutions

Dyes are the major pollutants in the waste waters which are mainly from textile industries. Though large number of treating methods available each has its demerits. Synthetic dyes used for the dyeing process increase the rate of water body pollution due to the discharge from the industries. Liquid-membrane extraction is a (LME) suitable technique for dye removal dude to its simple and easy design. Recalcitrant surfactants are the only hindrance faced in the LME which can be overcome by suitable biosurfactant. Hence in this work methyl orange is taken as model dye pollutant and saponin extracted from palm oil was used as biosurfactant. Central composite design (CCD) was utilized to optimize the extraction parameters such as concentration of methyl orange (100-200 mg/L), concentration of the surfactant (1-3 mg/L), and solvent ratio (1:1-1:3 mg/L) were examined and extraction efficacy was maximized.