SYNOPSIS

OBJECTIVES
To recover copper metal from industrial wastewater in an innovative and cost effective way with a high
recovery of copper.
DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES TO REMOVE AND RECOVER COPPER METAL FROM INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER
Copper is one of the most common heavy metals obtained in waste water. Generally the density of
heavy metals is greater than 5g/cm3. Although copper is required by human body for healthy functioning
however increasing beyond the required limit may lead to damage in liver and kidney and also
gastrointestinal distress. The sources of copper in waste water are numerous however the source of
printed circuit boards is considered. The concentration of copper in wastewater sludge from PCB
industry is more than 41% (Kuan, Lee et al. 2010).Various technologies have been in use for copper
recovery which may be physical, chemical, physiochemical or electrochemical.

CHELATING AGENTS

Chelation basically involves the formation of two coordinate bonds between a ligand and single bonded
atom. Chelating agents are mostly organic compounds that form bonds with the heavy metals. For the
removal of copper from waste water, various types of chelating agents have been in use e.g.
EDTA(recovery upto 97.9 %), DPTA(recovery upto 93.7 %) etc(Chang, Lo et al. 2007). Although the
recovery of copper is good however the use of chelating agents itself may lead to an increase in toxicity
of water. Also the low biodegradability of chelating agents is a drawback. New developments in the field
of chelating agents biodegradability are in progress but the cost increases substantially(Dorota 2013).

BIOSORPTION

The technique is extensively in use these days. In this method the biomass is put in the metal ion
containing solution and the pH is adjusted. After stirring , the biomass is separated from the solution
through filteration.(Veglio and Beolchini 1997) The copper ions become attached to the biomass and the
water is purified. This technique gives efficiency greater than 80 %. The variables that are to be adjusted
are pH, quantity of biomass, metal ion concentration and contact time. The surface modification of the
biomass can lead to better adsorption. Copper recovery on sugarcane bagasse surface modified with
sodium bicarbonate is 114mg/g(Wan Ngah and Hanafiah 2008). However this surface modification may
lead to the use of expensive chemicals and procedures.

LEACHING

In this technique, the dried sludge is added to acids. The metal ions are leached out by the acidic
solvents and the remaining sludge is filtered out. The recovery of copper with the use of HNO3is 96.3 %
While that with H2SO4 is 99.9 %.(Kuan, Lee et al. 2010) However the use of large quantities of acids is a

major drawback as the fumes of acids are toxic . Also the regeneration of copper metal from acids is a
difficult process.(Kurniawan, Chan et al. 2006)

MEMBRANES

The use of membranes for the removal of copper is a well developed technique. In this method the
metal ion containing solution is passed through a semi permeable membrane. The copper in this way is
separated from the waste water. The recovery of copper is greater than 97 %. The membrane material
used for this purpose are polyethersulfones for which the modification may be done by the use of
additives. Hence the membranes with either a carboxyl group or a sulfonic group may be adopted to
filter copper from waste water. This technique has particular disadvantages of high capital cost,
membrane fouling and retardation of selectivity with the passage of time.(Kurniawan, Chan et al. 2006)

ELECTRODIALYSIS

Electrodialysis is a membrane separation technique in which ionized species in the solution are passed
through an ion exchange membrane by applying an electric potential. The technique can be employed
to recover copper from relatively concentrated solutions.(Barakat 2011) The 99.9 % lead electrodes with
a concentration of 1000ppm copper gives 60 % recovery while that in 4000ppm solution, give more than
70 % recovery with the application of 6.5V for 3.5 hours. Recent studies show the recovery greater than
80 % with the application of 7.5V. After a concentration of 500mg/L the separation is diminished. The
high cost of membranes is a particular disadvantage.

ION EXCHANGE RESINS

Ion exchange resins or zeolites may be used to remove copper ions. A cationic exchange resin is placed
in the waste water which attracts the copper ions and replace its own cations with copper. This process
also gives good recovery (recent studies show adsorption of 3.7mg/g adsorbed by NDMC resin)
however the regeneration of resin is a particular disadvantage.(Van Nguyen, Lee et al. 2009)

ULTRASOUND

The technique involves the use of ultrasound radiations to recover copper metal. The recovery is greater
than 99 %.(Huang, Xie et al. 2011) The method is dependent upon pH , frequency of ultrasound and the
types of electrodes. The technique is relatively expensive that limits its use.(Xie, Cai et al. 2009)

PHOTOCATALISM

Photocatalism is the removal of copper metal over a photocatalyst like TiO2, ZnO or CdS. In this process
the anode is of photocatalytic material dipped in oxalate solution and the cathode is copper wire dipped
in copper containing water. As the anode is exposed to light wavelength (approx 390 nm for TiO2) the
excited electrons pass through the external circuit and the copper ions get reduced at cathode(Byrne,
Eggins et al. 1999). The removal of copper by this method may be >90%.(Yeber, Soto et al. 2009) The
variable of pH is also set to assist the removal. Mostly the pH is between 4 and 10. This method has
several advantages over other processes of copper removal as there is no requirement of electricity and

the stability of most photocatalysts. However the most commonly used photocatalyst is TiO2.(Aman,
Mishra et al. 2011)

TECHNIQUE CHOSEN
Photocatalytic recovery of copper is the chosen technique due to its potential as it can be used to
recover a high percentage of copper without any expenditure of energy. The only hurdle is the high cost
of photocatalyst which may be reduced using modern materials.
REFERENCES
Aman, N., et al. (2011). "Simultaneous photoreductive removal of copper (II) and selenium (IV) under
visible light over spherical binary oxide photocatalyst." Journal of Hazardous Materials 186(1): 360-366.
Barakat, M. A. (2011). "New trends in removing heavy metals from industrial wastewater." Arabian
Journal of Chemistry 4(4): 361-377.
Byrne, J. A., et al. (1999). "Photoelectrochemical cell for the combined photocatalytic oxidation of
organic pollutants and the recovery of metals from waste waters." Applied Catalysis B: Environmental
20(2): L85-L89.
Chang, F.-C., et al. (2007). "Recovery of copper and chelating agents from sludge extracting solutions."
Separation and Purification Technology 53(1): 49-56.
Dorota, K. (2013). "Application of a new generation of complexing agents in removal of heavy metal ions
from different wastes." Environmental Science and Pollution Research 20(9): 5939-5949.
Huang, Z., et al. (2011). "Ultrasonic recovery of copper and iron through the simultaneous utilization of
Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) spent acid etching solution and PCB waste sludge." Journal of Hazardous
Materials 185(1): 155-161.
Kuan, Y.-C., et al. (2010). "Heavy metal extraction from PCB wastewater treatment sludge by sulfuric
acid." Journal of Hazardous Materials 177(13): 881-886.
Kurniawan, T. A., et al. (2006). "Physicochemical treatment techniques for wastewater laden with
heavy metals." Chemical Engineering Journal 118(12): 83-98.
Van Nguyen, N., et al. (2009). "Copper recovery from low concentration waste solution using Dowex G26 resin." Hydrometallurgy 97(34): 237-242.

Veglio, F. and F. Beolchini (1997). "Removal of metals by biosorption: a review." Hydrometallurgy 44(3):
301-316.
Wan Ngah, W. S. and M. A. K. M. Hanafiah (2008). "Removal of heavy metal ions from wastewater by
chemically modified plant wastes as adsorbents: A review." Bioresource Technology 99(10): 3935-3948.
Xie, F., et al. (2009). "Recovery of Cu and Fe from Printed Circuit Board waste sludge by ultrasound:
Evaluation of industrial application." Journal of Cleaner Production 17(16): 1494-1498.
Yeber, M. C., et al. (2009). "Optimization by factorial design of copper (II) and toxicity removal using a
photocatalytic process with TiO2 as semiconductor." Chemical Engineering Journal 152(1): 14-19.