This paper deals with the enantioseparation of racemic alpha-cyclohexyl-mandelic acid containing copper(II) N-dodecyl-(L)-hydroxyproline (CuN2) as a chiral carrier using hollow fiber supported liquid membrane. A mathematical model of transport and enantioseparation of chiral compounds was deduced, the observed partition coefficient between the feed phase and the membrane phase, the stripping phase and the membrane phase, mass transfer resistance of boundary layer in strip phase inside the hollow fibers, boundary layer in feed phase and the diffusion in the membrane phase are taken into account in the model equations. Using the experimental results, several parameters of the proposed model have been achieved by nonlinear fitting method. It is a simply mathematical model which can be easily used to predict the concentration of the enantiomers and the separation factor of the enantioseparation process, and it can also be used to design and scale up the enantioseparation process.
enantioseparation; hollow fiber supported liquid membrane; a-cyclohexyl-mandelic acid; model
