Application of EAFDS/Lime Integrated System for the Removal of Cu and Mn from Industrial Effluent

Metal pollution is one of the significant concerns affecting the environment and the wellbeing of living things. Copper and manganese are the most common metal pollutants with detrimental effects on the health of human beings. Several methods have been proposed and applied for the treatment of industrial effluent and removal of hazardous metals. One of the most common treatment methods is chemical precipitation. This study is about application of chemical precipitation of copper and manganese metals from industrial acidic effluent in the presence of large concentration of other metals using a steel industry solid waste called Electric Arc Furnace Dust Slag (EAFDS) in conjunction with lime. The study proved that EAFDS alone can remove the target metals considerably and reducing the cost associated with the procurement of other costly chemicals. The concentration of Cu in the raw effluent was 47.2 mg/l. The slag reduced the concentration to 7.8 mg/l achieving 81.7 % removal. The concentration of Mn in the raw effluent was 120.8 mg/l, which was reduced to 12.0 mg/l with the slag only. The two metals were removed achieving 99.7 %with the addition of small amount of Ca(OH)2.