Studies on Recovery Efficiencies of Phenols from Phenol Fraction Using Alkali Treatment

Experiments were conducted for the extraction of phenols from the phenol fraction obtained from the coal tar distillate. The phenol fraction for the present investigation has been procured from Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, Visakhapatnam whose composition is known. The phenol fraction from coal tar distillate can be treated for extracting phenols using caustic soda. An attempt has been made to find out whether the existing practice of using only 8%-15% can be modified by increasing the strength of sodium hydroxide and also explore the possibilities of substituting the sodium hydroxide with KOH as an extractant. The different streams of liquids obtained during experimentation have been analyzed by gas chromatograph. Salient features of the study are that higher concentrations of the alkali significantly improved the separation efficiencies of phenols and also regenerate the phenolate with higher phenol content. Increase in the alkali strength has greatly improved the separation as well as the phenol content in the regenerated phenols. Disposal of effluents containing phenols may lead to environmental problem of ground water pollution and the study throws a light on the removal of phenols from the effluents to the extent possible by using higher strength alkali solutions.