The use of ion exchangers for removing cobalt and nickel ions from water solutions

Abstract

The paper presents results of research on cobalt and nickel ions removal from monocomponent solutions using Purolite ion exchange resins. It has been shown that C 160 ion exchange resin has the best sorption properties for both ions (Qe – 72.5 mg Co/g and 88.2 mg Ni/g). Regeneration process of this ion exchanger has high efficiency, achieving about 93% for cobalt ions and about 84% in case of nickel ions. It has been shown that the use of ion exchange method with suitable ion exchange resins guarantees effective removal of cobalt and nickel ions from solutions with very high concentrations corresponding to contents of these metals in industrial wastewaters (e.g. galvanic). In case of C 160 ion exchange resin, after the sorption process is carried out in one 50 minute cycle, the cobalt concentration decreased from about 30 000 mg/L to about 9 500 mg/L (approx. 68%), whereas nickel concentration reached about 6 300 mg/L (approx. 79%). Studied chelating resins don’t have such high sorption capacities. In their case, it is required to convert cobalt and nickel ions into complex forms. The kinetics of studied processes were described by pseudo-second order equations.