Efficient treatment and purification of mineral processing wastewater (MPW) have not been sufficiently investigated in the past though they are of great importance for sustainable mineral processing. Herein, a unique electrocoagulation (EC) reactor with aluminium scraps as anode material was developed for the treatment of real industrial MPW containing residual flotation reagents (major contributor to chemical oxygen demand, COD) and suspended particles. It was found that the active coagulants produced from the dissolution of aluminium scraps can play a key role in the purification of MPW. Under the conditions of initial pH 9, current 1 A, and processing time 90 min, the removal rate of COD was 74% while the turbidity can be almost completely removed. The mechanism lies in that most of the flotation reagents was adsorbed on the surfaces of suspended mineral particles, namely, montmorillonite, quartz, garnet, chlorite and mica, and then precipitated with the mineral particles. This innovative technology of utilizing wasted aluminium scraps to treat MPW is in line with the green development.
Fe-based replacement and precipitation are promising methods for removal of copper ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (Cu(II)-EDTA) but are limited by the necessity of controlling pH and dissolved oxygen. The details of the decomplexation mechanism also remain unclear. The present work investigated an anoxic iron electrocoagulation process capable of automatically modulating anoxic conditions and solution pH during exposure to air and thus promoting the rapid and thorough decomplexation of Cu(II)-EDTA. Dissolved Fe (II), rather than Fe(II)-bearing minerals, was found to be primarily responsible for the reduction of Cu(II)-EDTA to Cu(I)-EDTA and for the subsequent replacement reaction to generate free Cu(I) ions within the initial pH range of 2–7. The Cu(I) was primarily precipitated as Cu 2 O on the surface of green rust and magnetite as the pH was increased. The aeration of these Fe-containing precipitates released free Cu(I) ions instead of chelated Cu into solution, allowing for recycling of the Cu. This release of Cu(I) was likely induced by the pH decrease during aeration. This study provides important insights regarding the reductive decomplexation of chelated Cu(II) and the recovery of Cu via anoxic iron electrocoagulation, which is a promising green approach to recycling Cu from wastewater.
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