Low Cost Heavy Metals Removal from Hazardous Wastewaters

Heavy metal species mobilized and released into the environment by technological activities tend to persist indefinitely, circulating and eventually accumulating throughout the food chain, posing a serious threat to the environment, animals, and humans. Typical industrial metal-containing discharges can be considered as point-source emissions, which in turn offer the possibility of feasible remedial actions. The existing technologies for heavy metals removal, however, do not always offer the best possible scenario when the process efficiency, recycling capabilities, cost, and increasingly stringent regulations and disposal limits are critically considered. The new concept of removing heavy metals from hazardous waste streams, presented in this Phase I proposal, offers a low-cost, environmentally benign, highly efficient process based on natural waste materials available at an extremely low price. Preliminary results clearly demonstrated the feasibility and a high potential of the new technology to efficiently remove and recycle typical heavy metal contaminants from industrial wastewaters. The objective of the proposed research is to identify the key features and optimize specific process parameters to achieve the maximum removal efficiency. The anticipated results will provide a sound base for further development and upscaling of the new technology in the follow-on stages.