Comparative Studies And Performance Of Cu And Cd Removal Using Industrial Effluents And Synthetic Samples In Continuous Column Reactor.

The experimental data obtained proved that the effect of bed weight, flow rate and initial metal ion concentration plays a significant role on the removal of Cu (II) and Cd (II). The column performance calculation involves various parameters such as breakthrough time, saturation time, Volume treated at breakthrough point (ml), Volume treated at saturation point (ml), mads, mtotal, % removal have been calculated for both the metals using synthetic and industrial effluents. The detailed comparison studies have been reported in this paper along with explanation for both copper and cadmium. The cadmium metal % removal for synthetic solutions is better than industrial effluents at different bed heights and volumetric flow rates. The inverse trend for copper % removal is observed which shows that industrial effluent is better than the synthetic sample which may be due to more adsorbent dosage and influence of synergistic effect in the column. This trend is due to presence of Phenols, cresols, other heavy metals, sludge, major concentrations of adsorbates and impurities in industrial effluent. Overall in comparison with industrial effluents for cadmium, the synthetic solutions have proved to be more superior in terms of column total % removal and better performance was observed with synthetic solutions than industrial effluents. The adsorbent can be used for longer time before it needs replacement or regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]