Treatment, by electrodialysis, of a synthetic wastewater from the cyanide-free brass electroplating and study on ion transport: recovery of water and chemicals.

• Ano de defesa: 2020
• Autor(a) principal: Barros, Kayo Santana
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Biblioteca Digitais de Teses e Dissertações da USP
• Palavras-chave em Português: Água (Recuperação); Brass electrodeposition; Chemicals recovery; Chronopotentiometry; Electrodialysis; Eletrodeposição; Eletroliálise; Latão; Produtos químicos (Recuperação); Water recovery
• Link de acesso: https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/3/3137/tde-20012021-170803/

Growing concerns about environment and human health have led to the development of cleaner industrial processes. In recent years, the replacement of cyanide by EDTA in the brass electroplating baths has been assessed. However, the treatment of the wastewater generated has not been studied yet. Traditionally, wastewaters from electroplating processes are treated by chemical precipitation, which requires the addition of chemicals and produces sludges that are disposed in hazardous waste landfills. Hence, other techniques must be investigated and electrodialysis is a promising alternative since it allows the recovery of metals and water. Although electrodialysis is generally operated at current densities lower than the limiting current density of the membrane system (underlimiting), researchers have verified that operations at current densities above the limiting one (overlimiting) improve the ions transfer. To ensure its feasibility, studies on transport properties of ionic species are crucial and, among the dynamic characterization methods, chronopotentiometry stands out, since the dynamic voltage response in time can be analyzed. Therefore, this thesis aims to propose an alternative to the treatment of a synthetic solution that simulates the major wastewater from the cyanide-free brass electroplating industry. Firstly, chronopotentiometric tests were performed to compare transport properties of Cu2+ ions, in acid medium, across two ion-exchange membranes, the PC-SK and the HDX100. The use of HDX membrane in electrodialysis showed to be more appropriate, due to its lower tendency of fouling/scaling occurrence. Then, transport properties of copper and zinc complexes, present in the synthetic wastewater from the brass electroplating, across the anion-exchange membrane HDX200 were assessed. The effects of the solution pH, Cu2+/Zn2+ proportion and EDTA concentration on the transport properties were studied. For the solution with Cu2+/Zn2+ proportion of 0.4, an insoluble species was formed. Therefore, the synthetic wastewater with this metals proportion was treated, by electrodialysis in underlimiting and overlimiting conditions, to assess the influence of the current regime and the presence of insoluble species on the extraction of ions. The overlimiting operation was more advantageous since water splitting and electroconvection accounted for the improvement of the extraction of ions. Besides, chronopotentiometric studies showed that fouling/scaling occurrence was reduced. Then, the used membranes were forwarded to a three-stage cleaning procedure and the cleaning solution with 0.1 mol NaOH/L was the most appropriate. Lastly, ions from the concentrated solution obtained by electrodialysis were recovered into the electroplating bath. Cyclic voltammetric studies and electrodeposition tests were conducted at a rotating disk electrode. Uniform brass electrodeposits, with brightness and without cracks were obtained using the original electroplating bath and after the recovery of ions from electrodialysis, especially under agitation and at lower voltages than those already tested in literature. Thus, electrodialysis showed to be a feasible alternative for recovering water and inputs from the evaluated wastewater.