Abstract
The removal of heavy metals from acidic mineral effluents (pH<3) is among the most important issues for many industrialized countries. Removal of Fe3+, Al3+ and Mn2+ from acidic mineral effluents was studied using reductive precipitation as an alternative method. A comparative study of using different reducing agents (hydrazine, dimethylamine borane (DMAB) and glyoxylic acid) and different seeding materials (Nickel powder, Fe powder, Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GBFS) and Basic Oxygen Furnace Slag (BOFS) respectively) was done.
Reductive precipitation batch experiments were conducted where metal ions solution, seeding material and a reducing agent were added to a batch reactor. The volume of acidic mineral effluents was 500 ml and 30g of the seeding materials and stoichiometric amounts of the different reducing agents. The obtained BOFS before and after reductive precipitation was characterized for particle size distribution using MPAM, surface morphology and surface functional groups were done using SEM and FTIR respectively. Identification of phases was done using XRD while elemental composition was performed using XRF. using SEM and surface functional groups using FTIR, identification of phases using XRD, elemental composition using XRF. BOFS was the only seeding material characterized since it was found to be more effective and efficient than other seeding materials...
M.Tech. (Chemical Engineering)