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Some Effective Methods for Treatment of Wastewater from Cu Production

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Water Pollution and Remediation: Heavy Metals

Abstract

The total global production of refined copper in 2017 was approximately 19 million tons, with an annual growth rate of 3.4%. During the copper production process, a large proportion of the accompanying toxic metals end up in the environment. For this reason, there is a significant need for advanced wastewater treatment methods and technologies in order to ensure optimal water quality, eliminate heavy metals and other pollutants from water, and suggest appropriate industrial technology for the treatment of wastewater. Although various techniques for treatment of wastewater contaminated with heavy metals are being applied today, the choice of the most suitable wastewater treatment process depends on some basic commonly accepted parameters which will be discussed in this paper.

The methods and techniques such as adsorption on the new sorbents (biosorbents, agricultural and industrial wastes (lignocellulosic materials) as an ecological adsorbent; nano-adsorbents, activated carbon, carbon nanotubes, graphene, MgO, MnO, ZnO, TiO2, Fe3O4, etc.), nanotechnology, photocatalysis, nano zero-valent iron (nZVI), the use of dimensionally stable anodes in electrolysis, and phytoremediation have proved to be adequate in the treatment of wastewater from the support in particular toxic metals such as copper (Cu), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr), arsenic (As), zinc (Zn), and mercury (Hg), from primary and secondary copper production. Sorbents can be regenerated or concentrated by combustion and electrolysis using dimensionally stable anode; metals can be selectively separated and can be returned to the production process. Working principles and the advantages and disadvantages of the mentioned materials and methods for water remediation will be discussed in this paper. Due to their importance of the impact on the living world and on the environment, the toxicity of each of these polluting metals will also be demonstrated. The results show that water is generally polluted and that in the near future, we will have to take the most serious approach to addressing this problem. Great efforts are already being made to come up with the most efficient and inexpensive methods for wastewater treatment. This generally requires combining multiple methods for quality problem-solving, in accordance with the type and concentration of the pollution identified. In addition to engaging experts from the natural sciences, it is also necessary to include a management system and link up ministries of ecology at the state level and international level, in order to approach this problem more efficiently and to preserve rivers that flow through multiple lands and carry with them substances harmful to human health and to the environment and rivers which then flow with these substances into lakes, seas, and oceans.

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Abbreviations

ANFIS:

Adaptive neural fuzzy inference system

BDST:

Bed depth service time

BE:

Binding energy

BET:

Brunauer–Emmett–Teller

CNMs:

Carbon nanomaterials

CS/SCNTs:

Chitosan/silicon-coated carbon nanotubes

DSA:

Dimensionally stable anode

DSE:

Dimensionally stable electrodes

DLVO:

Derjaguin, Landau, Verwey, and Overbeek theory

EDTA:

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid

EDX:

Energy-dispersive X-ray

ENMs:

Electrospun nanofiber membranes

EU:

European Union

FRAP:

Ferric reducing antioxidant power

FTIR:

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

GO:

Graphene oxide

HRAES:

High-resolution Auger electron spectroscopy

IET:

Isoelectric point

MC:

Mesoporous carbon

MCL:

Maximum contaminant level

MMO :

Mixed metal oxide

MSC:

Modified mesoporous silica–carbon

MWCNTs:

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes

NA:

Not available

NF:

Nanofiltration

NMR:

Nuclear magnetic resonance

NPs:

Nanoparticles

nZVI:

Nano zero-valent iron

NT :

Nanotube

OEP :

Oxygen evolution potential

OER :

Oxygen evolution reaction

PBI:

Polybenzimidazole

PES:

Polyethersulfone

PET:

Polyethylene terephthalate

ppb :

Parts-per-billion

PGMs:

Platinum group metals

PPTA:

Para-phenylene terephthamide

PS:

Polystyrene

PSF:

Polysulfone

PVC:

Polyvinyl chloride

PVDF:

Polyvinylidene fluoride

PVP:

Polyvinylphenol

RO:

Reverse osmosis

SEM :

Scanning electron microscopy

SHE :

Standard hydrogen electrode

SWCNTs:

Single-walled carbon nanotubes

TEM :

Transmission electron microscopy

TGA :

Thermogravimetric analysis

UF:

Ultrafiltration

US EPA:

United States Environmental Protection Agency

UV:

Ultraviolet

WHO:

World Health Organization

XPS :

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

XRD :

X-ray diffraction

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Acknowledgments

This review was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Serbia. The author expresses great gratitude to the Ministry for Agreement No 451-03-68/2020-14/200052. The author is also thankful to Professor Carmen Blanco Delgado and especially to Professor Nicola Bolton, Marjan Gorišek and Jim Fleming for their overall support and selfless assistance. Also, the author is thankful to my loved ones for their patience and understanding.

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Correspondence to Vesna Krstić .

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Krstić, V. (2021). Some Effective Methods for Treatment of Wastewater from Cu Production. In: Inamuddin, Ahamed, M.I., Lichtfouse, E. (eds) Water Pollution and Remediation: Heavy Metals. Environmental Chemistry for a Sustainable World, vol 53. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52421-0_12

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