Determination of Limiting Current Density, Plateau Length, and Ohmic Resistance of a Heterogeneous Membrane for the Treatment of Industrial Wastewaters with Copper Ions in Acid Media

Abstract

In the last years, the electrodialysis process has been considered as an alternative to the chemical precipitation for the treatment of wastewaters from electroplating industries due to some limitations involved in the precipitation, as the sludge formation. For the success of the electrodialysis, some membranes properties have to be evaluated and the chronopotentiometry technique can be used. Hence, the present paper aimed at using chronopotentiometry for determining the limiting current density, plateau length, and ohmic resistance of the cationic heterogeneous HDX100 membrane by constructing current–voltage curves. The synthesized solution of the effluent from the electroplating industry evaluated was prepared with copper sulfate and sulfuric acid (2g Cu2+/L and pH 2). The chronopotentiometric curves were also evaluated for the study of the precipitate formation. According to the results, typical curves of monopolar membranes were obtained and the properties could be effectively determined by chronopotentiometry.