Removal and potential recovery of dissolved metals from acid sulfate soil drainage by spent coffee-grounds and dissolved organic carbon

Abstract

This study explores the reuse of spent coffee-grounds (SCGs) and the use of dissolved humic acid (DHA) to remediate acid sulfate (AS) soil drainage using adsorption and precipitation experiments, with changing pH, weight/volume, and concentrations (mg/L of dissolved organic carbon). In addition, this study aims to extend the usability of the SCGs, after being reacted with AS soil drainage, by identifying the potential recovery of incinerated SCGs from the ash of the SCGs produced incineration. As compared to DHA, the SCGs had greater efficiency in removing metals, such as Al (98%), Ca (96%), Co (94%), Fe (88%), Mn (100%), Ni (93%), and Zn (96%). However, the removal of Fe was significantly reduced when higher weight/volume of SCGs were introduced. In addition, SCGs could not bind sulfur, while DHA had removed up to 25% of S from the solution. This suggests the simultaneous use of SCGs and DHA could restrict the formation of problematic Fe(III) secondary compounds (e.g., schwertmannite/akaganeite) which are problematic in some AS soil settings. The results show that Co (69%), Ni (58%), Mn (60%), Fe (59%), Zn (55%), and Al (34%) had the highest recovery percentage by sequential chemical extraction, respectively. The recovery of metals, as well as the removal of dissolved metals from the drainage water, illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach for SCGs reuse.