Influence of counter anions on metal separation and water transport in electrodialysis treating plating wastewater

Electrodialysis (ED) is used in wastewater treatment, during the processing and recovery of beneficial materials, to produce usable water. In this study, sulfate and chlorine ions, which are the anions majorly used for electroplating, were studied as factors affecting the recovery of copper, nickel and water from wastewater by electrodialysis. Although the removal rates of copper and nickel ions were slightly higher with the use of chlorine ions than of sulfate ions, the removal efficiencies were above 99.9% under all experimental conditions. The metal ions of the plating wastewater flowed through the ion exchange membrane of the diluate tank and the concentrate tank while all the water moved together due to electro-osmosis. The migration of water from the diluate tank to the concentrate tank was higher in the presence of a monovalent chloride ion compared to that of a divalent sulfate ion. When sulfate was the anion used, the recoveries of copper and nickel increased by about 25% and 30%, respectively, as compared to the chloride ion. Therefore, when divalent ions such as sulfate are present in the electrodialysis, it is possible to reduce the movement amount of water and highly concentrate the copper and nickel in the plating wastewater.