The Elimination of Toluenediamine from Aqueous Solution by Reverse Osmosis

Toluene diamine (TDA) is a main carcinogenic aromatic pollutant in some industrial wastewater. In this study, the reverse osmosis with DSS-HR98PP as the membrane was employed for the removal of TDA in an aqueous environment. The Box–Behnken Design (BBD) of the experimentwas used to consider the effect of operational variables such as pressure, pH and the feed volumetric flow rate on the rejection efficiency of TDA. The ANOVA (Analysis of variance) exhibited a reasonable prediction second-order regression model and a high determination coefficient values (R2 = 99.57, R2adj = 98.81 and R2pred = 93.20). The optimum conditions predicted by the model were as follows: the volumetric flow rate of feed at 6 ´ 10-5 m3/m2s, pH at 6.8, and pressure at 45 ´ 10-5 N/m2. The predicted optimum response was 98.2%. The results showed that at the optimum conditions obtained for rejection, the permeate flux and actual rejection efficiency were 44.3 ´ 104 m3/m2s, and 96.9%, respectively.