Experimental Investigation of Adsorption Water Treatment Process for Resource Recovery from Plating Industry Wastewater

Abstract

In the electroplating process, a large amount of the diluted plating solution (DPS) is discharged from the plating industries because of its reduced plating efficiency. The disposal of the DPS results in economic loss and environmental pollution. This study proposed the adsorption water treatment process (AWT) to concentrate a diluted plating solution for reuse of the diluted plating solution by recovering selectively water. To evaluate the AWT process, a lab-scale AWT system was developed, and the feasibility assessment and economic analysis of it were conducted. A DPS with total dissolved solids of 508,500 ppm was concentrated by up to the water recovery of 10%, and most of the constituents were eliminated in the product. The product can be used for degreasing in the pre-treatment of the electroplating industry. In addition, the concentrated DPS resulted in an increase in the plating efficiency by up to 12%. These results demonstrated the AWT system can be used for resource recovery from the plating industry wastewater. Moreover, the AWT process utilizing the waste heat exhibited an extremely low specific energy consumption of 1.9 kWh/m3, compared to the conventional methods. Therefore, employing the AWT system can result in huge economic benefits in the electroplating industry.