Low-Energy Electrodeposition of Nickel in Electroplating Wastewater Using a Water Hyacinth Separated Double Chamber Electrodeposition Cell

Abstract

Nickel ions are highly present in wastewater from the electroplating industry because the galvanizing process only uses 30%–40% of nickel. The objectives of this study are to investigate the effect of electrolyte support, voltage, anolyte solution, and anode type on removal efficiency, current efficiency, and specific energy on water hyacinth-separated double chamber electrodeposition cell (DCEC) and to simulate wastewater treatment based on the optimized variables. We optimized the reaction conditions using artificial wastewater containing 2200 mg l−1 of nickel. We then simulated the electrodeposition using the optimized conditions and obtained the optimal operating conditions: 8 h of process time, a voltage of 3.48 V, and NaCl and H2SO4 concentrations of 1.5 and 1.4 M, respectively. At these optimum conditions, the predicted removal efficiency was found to be 68.73%. The current efficiency and specific energy were relatively low which was a similar efficiency of 28%. The reaction rate constants at reaction orders 1 and 2 in the electroplating industrial waste electrodeposition process were 0.1324 s-1 (R2 = 0.846) and 0.0001 s-1 (R2 = 0.913), respectively. This study contributes to further research and development of electrodeposition as a promising technology for the removal and recovery of toxic metal ions from wastewater with affordable m.