Toxic heavy metal ions removal from wastewater by ion flotation using a nano collector

Abstract

Industrial wastewater treatment containing heavy metal ions has been a challenge in the ion flotation process development in recent years due to the high collector consumption required to achieve maximum ion removal. To address this issue, a nano collector consisting of functionalized graphene oxide (FGO) was synthesized and applied to increase the removal of heavy metal ions (lead, copper, nickel, cadmium, and zinc) from wastewater. This study evaluated the effect of various critical operating conditions including pH, collector/frother type and concentration, gas type, gas flowrate, and energy input on ion flotation performance to improve the efficiency of the process in this investigation. It was found that using FGO not only increased the ion removal percentage but also decreased collector consumption and water recovery, all of which improved the ion flotation process performance. Under the optimum chemical and hydrodynamic conditions using FGO with much lower concentration than stoichiometry concentration resulted in the maximum removal of lead, copper, nickel, cadmium, and zinc ions with percentages of 97.07, 99.02, 98.38, 95.20, and 98.94, respectively. In optimum condition, water recovery was 8 %. The use of FGO in the ion flotation process for wastewater treatment offered significant benefits, including high adsorption efficiency, low collector consumption, recyclability, and the absence of critical micelle concentration (CMC) and frothing properties.