Use of ion-exchange resins in wastewater from electroplanting process.

Author(s)

Josiane Costa Riani

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola Politécnica (EP/BC)
• Defense date: 2008-05-26

Examining board members

Jorge Alberto Soares Tenório; Andréa Moura Bernardes; Denise Crocce Romano Espinosa; Versiane Albis Leão; Maurício Leonardo Torem

• Advisor: Jorge Alberto Soares Tenório

Abstract

The increasing industrialization carried out with the use of heavy metal in industrial processes over the last decades resulted in increasing environmental contamination, mainly in aquatic environments. Thus, as water is an extremely important natural resource for life, effluent treatment methods become essential for effluent generating companies. This work aims at using an ionic exchange system made of micro-columns of both cathionic and anionic resins for heavy metals adsorption of industrial solutions, for the recirculation of wastewater from electroplating processes. The resins used are: Amberlyst 15 WET and Amberlyst A- 21; Dowex Marathon C and Dowex Marathon A; Purolite C-150 and Purolite A-850. An evaluation of the metallic ions elution is also carried out for such resins. The effect of temperature on the elution is assessed for cathionic resins, Purolite C-150 and Dowex Marathon C. The adsorption kinetics and thermodynamics for trivalent chrome and zinc are assessed. The methodology consists of carrying out experiments of adsorption and elution in ion exchange columns and experiments of adsorption by batch for both kinetic and thermodynamic analyses of ions present in the solution. The results show that the water quality after the adsorption in all three systems proposed is in accordance with the values allowed by the CONAMA 357/05 Resolution. By analyzing the results of the elution in the resins, one can observe that the temperature increase favors the removal of ions present in resin-exchange sites, except for the trivalent chrome. The reactions of ionic exchange of Cr3+ and Zn2+ ions follow the models of pseudo-second order reaction. For the resins analyzed, the nature of ionic exchange reactions of the trivalent chrome is exothermic and of the zinc is endothermic. (AU)