Removal of Nickel, Zinc and Copper from Plating Process Industrial Raw Effluent Via Hydroxide Precipitation Versus Sulphide Precipitation

Abstract

Electroless plating wastewater contains mixed metals element. Although precipitation is the most common method applied to remove metals from the wastewater, it fails to completely precipitate all the metals at a single pH. The present work evaluates the effectiveness of the sulphide and the hydroxide precipitation for removal of nickel, zinc and copper from industrial wastewater, namely acid rinse and nickel rinse samples. The optimum pH and coagulant dosage were determined via Jar Test for both types of samples. Sulphide precipitation removed heavy metals more efficient than hydroxide precipitation. For the acid rinse sample, 95.32% of nickel was removed using sulphide precipitation while 76.66% removal using hydroxide precipitation. For nickel rinse sample, 93.75% of zinc was removed using sulphide while 68.8% removal using hydroxide. 65.75% of nickel was removed using both sulphide and hydroxide. Total removal of copper was achieved for both hydroxide and sulphide precipitation, either from acid rinse or nickel rinse samples.