Date of Award

Spring 1992

Document Type

Thesis - Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering

Abstract

This thesis involved a singular case study which analyzed the effect of varying influent solute concentration upon the adsorptive capacity of a pilot ion exchange system. The pilot system was designed for the removal and recovery of nickel from nickel plating rinsewaters. The research was based upon the hypothesis that as the influent nickel concentration was increased, there would be a shift in control of the rate of ion exchange from equilibrium-limited transitions to mass transfer transitions and that the combined effects of these two factors would effectively increase the utilization of the pilot system's adsorptive capacity. It was speculated that this turning point would be represented by a maximum adsorptive capacity attained at a specific influent nickel concentration. Several column studies were performed at influent nickel concentrations ranging from 25 to 200 ppm. These studies indicated that nickel could effectively be removed from all of the rinsewater test solutions down to an allowable breakthrough limit of 1.0 ppm. However, a maximum adsorptive capacity was achieved for the pilot system at an influent nickel concentration of 75 ppm both prior and subsequent to column regeneration. It is theorized that favorable fluid-sorbent equilibrium along with pore diffusion control over the adsorption kinetics were the reason for this peak capacity. Identification of this turning point indicates an approximate optimum influent nickel concentration based upon operation of the pilot ion exchange system. It is also suggested that a representative optimum range of influent nickel concentration for operation of a similar full-scale system would be from 65 to 85 ppm.

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