Novel Extraction of Phosphorus using Interaction of Tricaprylylmethylammonium Chloride (TOMAC) with Biodegradable Mixture of Vegetable Oils

This work addresses the development of green formulation for phosphorus compound removal from aqueous solution via solvent extraction process. Several types of extractants, diluents and stripping agents were experimentally investigated and the best formulation was determined. Additionally, other parameters investigated were extractant and stripping agent concentrations. Results showed that TOMAC, a mixture of palm oil (PO) and sunflower oil (SO) as well as sodium chloride (NaCl) turned out to be the best extractant, diluent and stripping agent, respectively. Almost 100% of 50 ppm of phosphorus were successfully extracted under optimum conditions of 0.3 M TOMAC in a mixture of 50% PO + 50% SO. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis confirmed the intermolecular bonding formation between phosphorus, vegetable oils and TOMAC molecules. Meanwhile, almost 96.5% of phosphorus can be recovered using 1.0 M NaCl in two stages of stripping process. Stoichiometric studies showed that about one mole of TOMAC and NaCl were involved during the extraction and stripping reaction of phosphorus, respectively. It can be concluded that the solvent extraction with new green formulation containing TOMAC in interaction with vegetable oils seems to be one of the novel sustainable approaches in removing phosphorus from agricultural wastewater.