Recovery of copper through decontamination of synthetic solutions using modified barks
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I.
INTRODUCTION
COPPER can be toxic to plants, animals, and humans. The United States Public Health Service and the French Ministry of Health prescribe a maximum of 1 ppm copper in drinking water. In concentrations exceeding 0.1 ppm, it could be hazardous to fish.[1] Copper salts are currently used in a wide range of applications. For example, copper sulfate and oxide are used as algaecide and molluscaecide in water[2] or as fungicide for wood preservation.[3] Some of the major industries discharging copper in their effluents are electroplating, hydrometallurgy, tire manufacturing, etc.[4] Precipitation of CuII as hydroxide is the most common technique applied industrially to minimize the concentration of this metal in effluents.[4] However, the efficiency of this technique is limited because the pH of the solution should be increased to about 7.5 to reach the copper cation concentration of 1 ppm.[4] Ion exchange, reverse osmosis, electrodialysis, and adsorption by activated carbon and clays are other methods that could be used for removing copper ions from industrial waste waters. Most of these methods are limited by their efficiency of decontamination or their capital and/or operational costs. Two major concepts were developed in this research. The I. GABALLAH, Senior Researcher, Laboratoire Environnement et Mine´ralurgie, associated with the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Mineral Processing and Environmental Engineering Team, INPL-ENSG, rue du Doyen M. Roubault, BP 40, 54501 Vandoeuvre Cedex, France. D. GOY, formerly graduate student with the Mineral Processing and Environmental Engineering Team, is Process Engineer with Entreprise Minie`re et Chimique, 62, rue Jeanne d’Arc, 75641 Paris cedex 13, France. E. ALLAIN, formerly Research Associate with the Mineral Processing and Environmental Engineering Team, is Postdoctoral Research Associate, INASMET, Camino de Portuetxe 12, 2009 San Sebastian, Spain. G. KILBERTUS, Professor, is with Ecole Nationale Supe´rieure des Technologies et Industries du Bois, 3 rue du Merle Blanc, BP 1041, 88051 Epinal, France. J. THAURONT is Director of R&D with Entreprise Minie`re et Chimique, 62 rue Jeanne d’Arc, 75641 Paris, Cedex 13, France. Manuscript submitted January 3, 1994. METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS B
first was to try to use a waste to eliminate another one or to resolve an environmental problem. The second was to rediscover natural materials that may be as good as those that are man-made and could be cheaper. In addition, nature is well armed to decompose natural materials better than polymers, catalysts, ion exchangers, etc., and generally without environmental threats. Until recently, tree bark was considered as a waste that was incinerated or decomposed naturally in the forest or around sawmills. The structure of this naturally made material suggests its use as an ion exchanger (Figure 1).[5] However, a simple chemical and/or biological treatment to prevent the leaching of colored organic compounds such as tannins and to depolymerize others such
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