Abstract
Electrochemical oxidation of trivalent chromium from leather tanning mud waste leachates (containing ca 6 g.L−1 Cr(III)) to its hexavalent form was carried out using a PbOx/Pb anode electrode in a prototype small (0.4 L) cylindrical batch electrochemical reactor. The PbOx/Pb anode was prepared by electrochemical anodization at constant current (75 mA cm−2 for 30 min) in a sulfuric acid solution and characterized by the cyclic voltammetry technique to investigate the effect of pH on the process. It was found that at pH = 3, Cr(III) oxidation prevails over the competing water oxidation-oxygen evolution reaction (OER), hence increasing the efficiency of the process. A detailed study of pH (0–3), current density (12–24 mA cm−2), and cell type (divided-undivided) effects on bulk electrolysis of Cr(III) leachates in the batch prototype reactor resulted in process optimization. At pH = 3, 12 mA cm−2 and a cathode inserted in a porous diaphragm envelope, nearly 70% conversion was achieved at a nearly 60% current efficiency, among the highest in the previously reported literature. The method (further optimized with an ion-selective membrane separator) could offer an attractive route for tannery Cr(III) conversion to Cr(VI) for reuse as an etchant or electroplating agent.
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The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Anna Mavridou and Olga Orfanou for making arrangements and carrying out SEM and XRD measurements.
Funding
This work was supported by the project “INVALOR: Research Infrastructure for Waste Valorization and Sustainable Management” (MIS 5002495) which is implemented under the Action “Reinforcement of the Research and Innovation Infrastructure,” funded by the Operational Programme “Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation” (NSRF 2014–2020) and co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Regional Development Fund).
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Conceptualization: Sotiris Sotiropoulos; methodology: Sotiris Sotiropoulos, Angeliki Banti; data curation: Angeliki Banti, Orestis Grammenos; writing—original draft preparation: Sotiris Sotiropoulos, Angeliki Banti; writing—review and editing: Εvgenios Kokkinos, Anastasios Zouboulis, Sotiris Sotiropoulos; funding acquisition: Anastasios Zouboulis; investigation: Orestis Grammenos, Aikaterini Touni; supervision: Sotiris Sotiropoulos, Anastasios Zouboulis; visualization: Angeliki Banti, Εvgenios Kokkinos.
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Banti, A., Grammenos, O., Kokkinos, Ε. et al. Electrochemical conversion of chromium from tannery effluents for potential reuse in industrial applications. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 8722–8731 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19985-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19985-3