%0 Journal Article
%T The Effective Electrolytic Recovery of Dilute Copper from Industrial Wastewater
%A Teng-Chien Chen
%A Ricky Priambodo
%A Ruo-Lin Huang
%A Yao-Hui Huang
%J Journal of Waste Management
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/164780
%X Electroplating copper industry was discharged huge amount wastewater and cause serious environmental and health damage in Taiwan. This research applied electrical copper recovery system to recover copper metal. In this work, electrotreatment of a industrial copper wastewater ([Cu] = 30000£¿mg£¿L£¿1) was studied with titanium net coated with a thin layer of RuO2/IrO2 (DSA) reactor. The optimal result for simulated copper solution was 99.9% copper recovery efficiency in current density 0.585£¿A/dm2 and no iron ion. Due to high concentration of iron and chloride ions in real industrial wastewater, the copper recovery efficiency was down to 60%. Although, the copper recovery efficiency was not high as simulated copper solution, high environmental economic value was included in the technology. The possibility of pretreating the wastewater with iron is the necessary step, before the electrical recovery copper system. 1. Introduction Heavy metals are elements having atomic weights between 63.5 and 200.6£¿g/mol and a specific gravity greater than 5.0 [1]. With the rapid development of industries such as metal plating facilities, mining operations, fertilizer industries, tanneries, batteries, paper industries, and pesticides, heavy metals wastewaters are directly or indirectly discharged into the environment increasingly, especially in developing countries. Unlike organic contaminants, heavy metals are not biodegradable and tend to accumulate in living organisms, and many heavy metal ions are known to be toxic or carcinogenic. Toxic heavy metals of particular concern in treatment of industrial wastewaters include nickel, mercury, cadmium, lead, and chromium. Electroplating copper industry discharged huge amount of wastewater into wastewater plant. Copper does essential work in animal metabolism; however, the excessive ingestion of copper brings about serious toxicological concerns, such as vomiting, cramps, convulsions, or even death [2, 3]. Due to the of complexity production processes in electroplating copper manufacturing, only acid washing water, which contains abundant cupric ions, was considered to be reclaimed here. Copper is a really rare and valuable metal. The price of copper is getting higher recently, and the production cost is increasing, and therefore it is really important to consider spent copper plating solution. In recent years, there is an increasing interest in the development of effective electrochemical methods for the removal of metal ions from wastewaters [4, 5]. The metal ions are effectively recovered from dilute solution using ion exchange
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jwm/2013/164780/