Evaluation of alginate based adsorbent in battery production wastewater treatment

Environmental pollution is an important problem. One of the factors that cause environmental pollution is the wastewater generated as a result of industrial activities, and one of these is battery production facilities. The wastewater is a major threat to receiver system characterization and ecosystem. One of the methods used for the removal of heavy metals contained in wastewater is adsorption. There are many types of adsorbents used in adsorption systems, and alginate and eggshell are alternatives. Within the scope of the study, composite beads were formed by combining alginate with eggshell powder and Pb+2 removal of this adsorbent from the battery production wastewater was evaluated. Firstly, the eggshell to be used in the creation of composite beads has been subjected to various pretreatments. 1:1 g/g at a rate of alginate-eggshell beads synthetic composite with 50 mg/l Pb+2 containing synthetic wastewater, tap water and industrial wastewater in a batch system were performed, and the optimum experimental conditions were determined. Desorption experiments were performed with alginate-eggshell composite beads contacted with 1 M NaOH, 0.1 M NaCl, 1 M NaCl and 0.1 M HNO3. Then, treatment was carried out at a flow rate of 3 ml/min in the syringe assembly with battery plant wastewater and tap water by taking advantage of the ideal experimental conditions. Finally, adsorption experiments with 1:1 g/g at a rate of alginate-eggshell beads and wastewater of the battery manufacturing plant with concentration of 10 mg/l Pb+2 and pH=6 by continuous column adsorption experiments were performed at a flow rate of 3 mL/min for 20 days. In this thesis, only raw eggshells with a particle size of <100 µm have been found suitable for batch system studies. In batch system experiments, the optimal composite ratio was determined as 1:1 g alginate/g eggshell. The optimum experimental conditions for the treatment processes were determined as pH=6, 50 mg/l Pb+2 initial concentration, 10 mg adsorbent, 30 °C temperature, 120 rpm mixing speed and 24 hour contact time. In the experiments carried out in the syringe assembly, the desired efficiency could not be obtained in both wastewater samples. In the experiments carried out for 20 days with the real battery manufacturing wastewater in the continuous system, 87.5% purification efficiency was achieved and 75.6 mg/g adsorption capacity was reached. As a result, alginate-eggshell composite beads were seen as an efficient alternative for the removal of Pb+2 heavy metal in the battery production plant wastewater.