Permeation rate and transfer mechanism of copper(II) through a supported liquid membrane containing LIX65N as a mobile carrier were studied. The experiment was carried out under the condition that the rate-determining step of the dialysis was the diffusion in the membrane.
The binary diffusivities of the oxime and the copper-oxime complex for solute-solvent system and apparent diffusivity of copper in the supported liquid membrane were measured. The apparent diffusivity of copper was approximately proportional to the -1.0 power of the liquid membrane solution viscosity. The copper flux was constant in the range of pH>3 in the feed solution, but decreased with decreasing pH in the range of pH<3. Copper concentration in the feed solution hardly influenced the copper flux in the range of 10^-3-10^-1 mol-dm^-3. The copper flux was proportional to the 1st power of the oxime concentration in the liquid membrane when pH of the feed solution was 4.47, but the value of the power of the oxime concentration increased with decreasing value of pH of the feed solution. The concentration profile of the copper-oxime complex in a stack of the supported liquid membrane was approximately in agreement with the theory.