Surface ion imprinted bagasse for selective removal of Cu (II) from the leaching solution of electroplating sludge

Abstract

Electroplating sludge containing heavy metal of copper is not only a toxic and harmful solid waste, but also a valuable resource that could be recycled. In this study, a novel Cu (II) ion imprinted bagasse was prepared and used as a sorbent to selectively recycle copper from the leaching solution of electroplating sludge. The adsorption performances of the imprinted bagasse for Cu (II) were studied and compared with that of the non-imprinted bagasse. Results showed that the adsorption capacity of the imprinted bagasse was 32.0 mg g-1, which was higher than that of the non-imprinted bagasse (22.9 mg g-1). Adsorption of Cu (II) on the imprinted bagasse could be finished within 70 min and the high adsorption amount could be achieved in a wide pH range from 4.0 to 7.0. Regeneration experiment verified that the imprinted bagasse could be used repeatedly without obvious ability loss. Competitive adsorption results showed that the imprinted bagasse had much higher adsorption capacity and selectivity toward Cu (II) than the non-imprinted bagasse. Due to the spatial and complex effect, the imprinted bagasse showed stronger adsorption affinity toward Cu (II) than the co-ions of Ca (II), Zn (II), Mg (II), Cd (II), and Pb (II), and thus could selectively adsorb Cu (II) from the complex leaching solution of electroplating sludge. Therefore, the imprinted biosorbent had excellent application prospect in recycling metal ions from the electroplating sludge.