Abstract
The growing interest for urban mining strategies has pushed the research towards innovative strategies for metal recovery from electronic waste. Nevertheless, the treatment of the resulting metal-rich wastewater is still an issue. In this context, the present paper shows a method to use the capacity of Ulva algae to adsorb metals for the treatment of a synthetic solutions which simulates that resulting from a printed circuit board recycling process. The experiments considered a copper‑zinc‑iron system, showing a copper adsorption capacity of biomaterial up to 65 mg/g, at pH 5, favoured by iron presence. The process needs a short time (around 15 min) and it is suitable to be performed in a fixed-bed column able to treat more than 30 L of copper-contaminated wastewater, decreasing the energetic costs for mixing (compared to the typical slurry-reactor configuration) with an almost completed metal removal. The sustainability of the process is further improved by the selection of a macroalga which often accumulates on beaches (becoming a waste to remove) complying with the circular economy pillars.
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