Special features of heavy metal ion reduction from liquid electrolytes

Abstract

The ion exchange reduction of heavy metal ions from electrolytes has been studied by theoretical and experimental methods. It is established that high efficiency of the ion exchange is provided by metal ion diffusion through a thin subsurface layer of an ion exchanger with a thickness of $\bar \delta = 1.6 \times 10^{ - 4}$ under conditions of the optimum solution flow velocity U ₀, such that the time of ion penetration through the layer of water molecules adsorbed on the surface of pores in this layer is on the order of 10⁻² s. In this case, the effective diffusion coefficient of metal ions in the subsurface layer is 4.5 × 10⁻⁷ m²/s, which is more than two orders of magnitude higher than the value in solution.