Mn(II) removal from water using emulsion liquid membrane composed of chelating agents and biosurfactant produced in loco

Abstract New methodologies for recovering metals in wastewater are important in the control and treatment of industrial effluents as well as in the remediation of contaminated environments. The removal of metallic ions using liquid membranes is a technology already used in industrial processes, and it can be adapted for the treatment of effluents and for bioremediation. In this context, the production of biosurfactant membranes to substitute the use of synthetic surfactants is a possibility due to the adequacy of liquid membrane use for treating effluents containing toxic metal. This research approaches the economics of Mn(II) removal from contaminated water using liquid membranes of a biosurfactant produced in loco containing D 2 EHPA, EDTA, H 2 SO 4 , and NaCl. Different compositions of emulsion liquid membrane of biosurfactant (ELMB) were tested ( n  = 35). The optimisation of the ELMB system was obtained using an artificial neural network (ANN) and heuristic optimisation using artificial bee colony optimisation (ABCoptim) that reported good results ( R 2  = 0.76) in the manganese removal simulation. The treatment with ELMB was demonstrated to be fast, economic, and efficacious, in Mn(II) ion removal from wastewater, removing more than 77% of Mn(II) ions in 2 min of contact time at a total of cost of 51.62 USD/m 3 of effluent.