How to remove Lead ions from Industrial Wastewater?
The removal of harmful heavy metal ions from wastewater, particularly from industrial and mining waste effluents, has proven difficult. Heavy metal contaminations may exist in wastewater from a variety of sectors, including metal plating, mining operations, tanneries, chlor-alkali, radiator manufacture, smelting and alloy industries, and storage battery companies.
What is lead?
Lead is a bluish grey metal that is heavy, soft, and malleable. Because of its toxicity and pervasive prevalence in the environment, it is of special concern. It is a well-known and very hazardous metal that is classified as a priority pollutant. It is an industrial contaminant that enters the environment via the soil, air, and water.
It may cause anaemia, renal dysfunction, brain tissue damage, and even death in severe poisoning situations.
What causes lead contamination in the water?
The principal causes of lead contamination include processing industries such as acid battery manufacture, metal plating and finishing, ammunition, tetraethyl lead manufacturing, ceramic and glass businesses, and environmental clean-up services that treat and dispose of lead polluted water. High lead levels in the environment may pose long-term health concerns to persons and ecosystems.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has set 0.05 mg/L as the maximum permissible limit (MPL) for lead in drinking water. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set a permitted limit (mg/L) for Pb (II) in wastewater at 0.05 mg/L.
Appropriate treatment of industrial wastewaters that release lead into aquatic and terrestrial systems is critical. Many procedures have been developed to reduce lead ion pollution, including adsorption, precipitation, coagulation, ion exchange, cementation, electro-dialysis, electro-winning, electro-coagulation, and reverse osmosis.
Removal of lead from Industrial Wastewater
Some ways for eliminating lead are briefly detailed below:
1: Reverse Osmosis
The recovery of lead ions from dilute wastewater is accomplished by the use of semi-permeable membranes in reverse osmosis and electro-dialysis.
2: Precipitation
Precipitation is the most often used method for eliminating lead ions from wastewater at parts per million (ppm) levels.Because lead ions salts are insoluble in water, precipitation occurs when the right value is applied. This procedure is inexpensive, but its efficiency is hampered by low pH and the presence of other salts (ions).
3: Ion Exchange
Ion exchange is another approach that has been utilized effectively in the industry to remove lead ions from effluents. Though it is more expensive than the other approaches, it is capable of achieving ppb levels of clean up while handling a reasonably high volume.
An ion exchanger is a solid that may exchange cations or anions from its surroundings. Synthetic organic ion exchange resins are commonly used matrices for ion exchange. The drawback of this approach is that it cannot handle concentrated metal solutions because the matrix becomes readily contaminated by organics and other particles in the effluent. Furthermore, ion exchange is nonselective and very sensitive to solution pH.
4: Electro-winning
Electro-winning is commonly utilized in mining and metallurgical industries for heap leaching and acid mine draining. It is also utilized in metal transformation, electronics, and electrical sectors for lead ion removal and recovery. Metals found in effluents such as Ag, Au, Cd, Co, Cr, Ni, Pb, Sn, and Zn can be recovered using electro-deposition utilizing insoluble anodes.
5: Electro-Coagulation
Electro-coagulation is an electrochemical method that removes lead ions from solution by using an electrical current. The technique may also remove suspended particles, dissolved metals, tannins, and colours. Electrical charges keep the pollutants found in wastewater in solution. When these ions and other charged particles are neutralized by ions with opposing electrical charges produced by the electro-coagulation system, they become destabilized and precipitate in a stable state.
6: Cementation
Cementation is a sort of precipitation process that involves an electrochemical mechanism in which a metal with a greater oxidation potential enters solution, such as the oxidation of metallic iron, Fe (0) to ferrous iron (II), to replace a metal with a lower oxidation potential.Copper is primarily separated by cementation, along with noble metals such as Ag, Au, and Pb, as well as As, Cd, Ga, Pb, Sb, and Sn.
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