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Title: Algal Sorbents for Treatment of Multiple Metals and Recovery of Rare Earths in Simulated and Actual Wastewater - 17098

Conference ·
OSTI ID:22794511
;  [1]
  1. University of Pretoria, Department of Chemical Engineering, Lynnwood Road, Private bag X20 Hatfield, Pretoria 0002 (South Africa)

In this study, waste micro algae was used in adsorption/desorption of ternary system of metals including thallium (Tl), cadmium (Cd) and lanthanum (La). Equilibrium and kinetic studies were carried out con-currently in batch reactors. The effect of pH and ionic strength were tested. The Extended Langmuir model (ELM) and Combined Langmuir and Freundlich model (CLFM) were used to evaluate the data from equilibrium experiments. AQUASIM was used for kinetic modelling of a ternary system of metals. Adsorption using ternary system of metals showed a lower sorption capacity (q{sub max}) compared to single metallic studies due to competition for binding sites in the former. Generally, the ELM performed better than CLFM with correlation coefficient (R{sup 2}) of 0.99. Thallium showed the highest (q{sub max}) of 77.28 mg/g and (K) of 0.244 L/g. The affinity (K{sub L}) was highest for Tl and La at 0.244 and 0.403 L/g respectively in the ELM. The experimental data from kinetic studies relatively fit well the predicted model in AQUASIM. Recovery of metals by D. multivariabilis was highest for La at 90.92 %. In the actual wastewater samples, all the available metal concentrations were generally reduced by tested algae. C. vulgaris and D. multivariabilis removed 100% cobalt and thallium from smelter water with an initial concentration of 0.316 and 2.302 mg/L respectively. Chromium from mine water was reduced from 78.365 to 43.47 and 38.14 mg/L using S. acuminutus and D. multivariabilis respectively. The algal species tested presented great potential for application in industrial wastewater treatment and recovery of REE. (authors)

Research Organization:
WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 27646, 85285-7646 Tempe, AZ (United States)
OSTI ID:
22794511
Report Number(s):
INIS-US-19-WM-17098; TRN: US19V0188038730
Resource Relation:
Conference: WM2017 Conference: 43. Annual Waste Management Symposium, Phoenix, AZ (United States), 5-9 Mar 2017; Other Information: Country of input: France; 29 refs.; available online at: http://archive.wmsym.org/2017/index.html
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English