유동층 반응기를 이용한 구리와 니켈의 황화물 결정화에 결정화 시약 및 pH가 미치는 영향

Abstract

Wastewater containing heavy metals such as copper (Cu) and nickel (Ni) is harmful to humans and the environment due to its high toxicity. Crystallization in a fluidized bed reactor (FBR) has recently received significant attention for heavy metal removal and recovery. It is necessary to find optimum reaction conditions to enhance crystallization efficacy. In this study, the effects of crystallization reagent and pH were investigated to maximize crystallization efficacy of Cu-S and Ni-S in a FBR. CaS and Na2S·9H2O were used as crystallization reagent, and pH were varied in the range of 1 to 7. Additionally, each optimum crystallization condition for Cu and Ni were sequentially employed in two FBRs for their selective removal from the mixture of Cu and Ni. As major results, the crystallization of Cu was most effective in the range of pH 1-2 for both CaS and Na2S·9H2O reagents. At pH 1, Cu was completely removed within five minutes. Ni showed a superior reactivity with S in Na2S·9H2O compared to that in CaS at pH 7. When applying each optimum crystallization condition sequentially, only Cu was firstly crystallized at pH 1 with CaS, and then, in the second FBR, the residual Ni was completely removed at pH 7 with Na2S·9H2O. Each crystal recovered from two different FBRs was mainly composed of CuxSy and NiS, respectively. Our results revealed that Cu and Ni can be selectively recovered as reusable resources from the mixture by controlling pH and choosing crystallization reagent accordingly.