The use of fly ash formed in the CFBC technology to study the efficiency of heavy metal ion removal from municipal wastewater

• 

 

 

 

Key words:

fly ash, the CFBC technology, water quality, adsorption, heavy metals, wastewater treatment

Summary 

Fly ash has been examined for the effectiveness of removing Cu(II), Cd(II), Ni(II), Pb(II) and Zn(II) metal ions from municipal wastewater. Fly ash is cheap waste resulting from the combustion of municipal sewage sludge by means of circulating fluidized bed combustion (CFBC) technology. This adsorbent has been characterized for organoleptic and physicochemical properties using selected methods, such as fraction analysis, bulk density, particle size distribution, elemental composition (SEM-EDS), thermogravimetry, texture using BET adsorption iso­therms, specific surface area, pore volume, average pore diameter, BJH pore volume distribution, morphology using scanning electron microscope (SEM), ATR FT-IR.

Based on the results obtained, the following reduction of heavy metal ions con­centration in municipal wastewater samples was demonstrated: Cu - 66.7%, Zn - 61.5%, Ni - 61.1%, Cd - 49.4%, Pb - 47.9%. In summary, fly ash obtained in CFBC technology is a promising low-cost adsorbent for the effective removal of metals from municipal wastewater and can be considered for practical industrial appli­ca­tions in the future.

Dr inż. Tomasz KALAK

Dr inż. Anna KŁOPOTEK

Poznan University of Economics and Business

Institute of Quality Science

Department of Industrial Products and Packaging Quality

Aleja Niepodleglosci 10, 61-875 Poznań, Poland

e-mail: tomaszThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.