Water treatment sludge for removal of heavy metals from electroplating wastewater

Suitability of aluminium-based water treatment sludge (WTS), a waste product from water treatment facilities, was assessed for removal of heavy metals from an electroplating wastewater which had high concentrations of copper and chromium along with other heavy metals. Batch tests with simulated wastewater in single-and multi-metal solutions indicated the influence of initial pH and WTS dose on removal of six metals namely Cu(II), Co(II), Cr(VI), Hg(II), Pb(II) and Zn(II). In general, removal of cationic metals such as Pb(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) increased with increase in pH while that of anionic Cr(VI) showed a reduction with increased pH values. Tests with multi-metal solution showed that the influence of competition was more pronounced at lower WTS dosages. Column test with diluted (100 times) real electroplating wastewater showed complete removal of copper up to 100 bed volumes while chromium removal ranged between 78-92%. Other metals which were present in lower concentrations were also effectively removed. Mass balance for copper and chromium showed that the WTS media had Cu(II) and Cr(VI) sorption capacities of about 1.7 and 3.5 mg/g of dried sludge, respectively. The study thus indicates that WTS has the potential to be used as a filtration/adsorption medium for removal of metals from metal-bearing wastewaters.