Removal of fluoride ions by ultrafiltration in the presence of cationic surfactants

The usability of surfactant-aided ultrafiltration for removal of fluoride ions from aqueous solutions has been investigated. The experiments were conducted with the use of cellulose and polyethersulfone membranes. Fluoride solutions containing 10 and 100 mg F^–/dm³ and cationic surfactants: octadecylamine acetate (ODA) and hexadecylpyridium chloride (CPC) were used in the experiments. The concentration of surfactants amounted to 320–960 mg/dm³. Ultrafiltration process was run under a trans-membrane pressure of 0.2 MPa. In the course of experiments, the effects of initial fluoride concentration, surfactant concentration and membrane type on the fluoride retention coefficient as well as the permeate flux were studied. It was found that the increase of the surfactant concentration effected in improvement of the separation efficiency. On contrary, the permeate flux decreased upon increase of the surfactant concentration. The process efficiency was also strongly influenced by the membrane and surfactant type. The permissible concentration of fluoride in the final product (below 1.5 mg F^–/dm³) was obtained for the test with initial solutions containing 10 mg F^–/dm³, polyethersulfone membrane and CPC con-centration equal to 644 and 966 mg/dm³.