Heavy metals removal from electroplating wastewater by aminopropyl-Si MCM-41

The potential of removing nickel and copper from industrial electroplating wastewaters by using mesoporous materials with MCM-41 type structure functionalised with different ratios of aminopropyl groups, namely Na50, Na25 and Na5, were evaluated. The synthesised solids sorbents obtained were characterised by X-ray diffraction, elemental chemical analysis and IR spectroscopy. In preliminary experiments, studies were carried out to determine the optimal experimental conditions for the retention of heavy ions. Effects of concentration, optimal pH, interference with humic substances and other metals were studied for Na5, which showed the best capacity of absorption determined by the corresponding isotherm. This material has a greater selectivity against sodium, indicating that ionic strength does not affect the extraction. Results of an application of this material to remove nickel and copper in synthetic and real industrial wastewater samples from an electrochemical industry area are shown with successful results. The lowest level of nickel and copper were observed when Na5 was used. This observation suggests that reactive aminopropyl-Si MCM-41 and similar materials may be a promising and provide for alternative environmental technologies in the future.