Liquid Membrane Permeation of Nitrogen Heterocyclic Compounds Contained in Model Coal Tar Fraction

We investigated the separation of nitrogen heterocyclic compound (NHC) contained in a model coal tar fraction comprising four kinds of NHC [indole (In), quinoline (Q), iso-quinoline (iQ), quinaldine (Qu)], three kinds of bicyclic aromatic compound (BAC) [1-methylnaphthalene (1MN), 2-methylnaphthalene (2MN), dimethylnaphthalene (DMN) mixture with ten structural isomers (DMNs; regarded as one component)], biphenyl (Bp) and phenyl ether (Pe) by liquid membrane permeation (LMP). A batch-stirred tank was used as the permeation unit. An aqueous solution of saponin and n-hexane were used as the liquid membrane and the outer oil phase, respectively. Yield and selectivity of individual NHC was much larger than that of BAC, Bp and Pe. Increasing the initial mass fraction of the saponin to the membrane solution () and the initial volume fraction of O/W emulsion to total liquid in a stirred tank () resulted in deteriorating the yield of individual NHC, but increasing the stirring speed (N) resulted in improving the yield of each NHC. With increasing , the selectivity of each NHC based on DMNs increased. Increasing and N resulted in decreasing the selectivity of individual NHC based on DMNs. At an experimental condition fixed, the sequence of the yield and selectivity in reference to DMNs for each NHC was Q > Qu = iQ > In. Furthermore, we compared LPM method with methanol extraction method in view of the separation efficiency (yield, selectivity) of NHC.