INDUSTRIAL WASTE AS A NEW ADSORBENT FOR Cu2+ REMOVAL FROM AQUATIC SOLUTIONS

Abstract

Recent data in the field of wastewater treatment by adsorption indicated the increasing usage of industrial waste as adsorbents for heavy metals removal from wastewater. This is an especially important topic with respect to the fact that in Montenegro operating steelmaking factory and coal fired power station which generates by-products that can be used as new low-cost adsorbents. Steelmaking factory generates electric arc furnace slag as by-product of steel production while coal fired power station generates a large quantity of fly ash as a result of coal combustion. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the possibility of using modified ash and slag as new adsorbents for Cu2+ removal from aquatic solution.
The obtained results showed that both materials can be successfully used for the removal of Cu2+ from aqueous solutions by the fact that the modified slag is a more efficient adsorbent in comparison to the modified fly ash. The obtained removal efficiency for modified slag was 62.3% at ambient conditions while modified fly ash enables removal of 45.6% of copper ions from aquatic solutions at the same conditions.