Innovative developments in the selective removal and reuse of heavy metals from wastewaters

Sulphide precipitation of heavy metal containing wastewaters results in low effluent concentrations. However, sulphide precipitation is not widely applied in practice because the dosing of sulphide cannot adequately be controlled. A new process was developed where the combination of a sulphide-selective electrode (pS-electrode) and pH electrode controls the sulphide addition. Precipitation experiments were performed on a laboratory-scale in batch and continuous reactor systems with synthetic wastewaters containing Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb or Zn. The response of the pS-electrode during precipitation was unique for each heavy metal and was directly related to the solubility product of the corresponding metal sulphide. The metals were removed to levels <0.05 mg.l^-1 at pH 6.0 by sulphide precipitation while maintaining a total sulphide concentration <0.02 mg.l^-1. By the control of pS at different levels and keeping the pH constant at 6.0, the metals in solutions of both Cu and Zn could be precipitated selectively from solution in a batch and continuous reactors. The use of a membrane reactor in combination with control of pH and pS offers a simple, cheap, efficient and sustainable technique with respect to obtaining very low effluent concentrations and selective removal of metals as pure metal sulphides which can be reused.