Recycling of lead-contaminated EDTA wastewater.
Ethylene diaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) is one of the chelating agents used in the soil washing process for the decontamination of lead-contaminated soil. Lead-EDTA complexes in the wastewater from the soil washing process must be removed before the wastewater can be safely discharged. This study outlines a method to recycle Pb-EDTA wastewater by substituting the Pb complexed with EDTA with Fe(III) ions at low pH, followed by precipitation of Pb ions with phosphate or sulfate ions. Fe(III) ions complexed with EDTA were then precipitated at high pH using sodium hydroxide. The resulting solution (Fe-precipitated solution) was tested on three lead-contaminated soils. The Fe-precipitated EDTA solution was found to have similar extraction capabilities as fresh EDTA solution. Experimental results showed that the recycled EDTA solution may be recycled several times without losing its extractive power. Recycled EDTA wastewater with phosphate precipitation was found to be slightly more effective than recycled EDTA solution using sulfate precipitation. The recycling procedure may be applied to wastewater generated during soil washing of lead-contaminated soil, resulting in a reduction in wastewater generated and savings in the amount of EDTA used.
Electrochemical EDTA recycling with sacrificial Al anode for remediation of Pb contaminated soil.
Recycling chelant is a precondition for cost-effective EDTA-based soil remediation. Extraction with EDTA removed 67.5% of Pb from the contaminated soil and yielded washing solution with 1535 mg L(-1) Pb and 33.4 mM EDTA. Electrochemical treatment of the washing solution using Al anode, current density 96 mA cm(-2) and pH 10 removed 90% of Pb from the solution (by electrodeposition on the stainless steel cathode) while the concentration of EDTA in the treated solution remained the same. The obtained data indicate that the Pb in the EDTA complex was replaced by electro-corroded Al after electro-reduction of the EDTA and subsequently removed from the solution. Additional soil extraction with the treated washing solution resulted in total removal of 87% of Pb from the contaminated soil. The recycled EDTA retained the Pb extraction potential through several steps of soil extraction and washing solution treatment, although part of the EDTA was lost by soil absorption.
Extraction of copper, lead, zinc or cadmium ions sorbed on calcium carbonate
The amount of sorbed metal ion released from CaC03 by 16 different extractants was found to vary with the chemical nature of the solution and the metal ion involved. In general, acid solutions dissolved a high proportion of both substrate and Cu, Ph, Cd coatings; complexing agents dissolved the same coatings but left most of the calcite; and competing cations (e.g. NH4+, Ca2+) displaced primarily chemisorbed Cd and Cu. In Zn studies, little metal ion was retrieved by any extractant due to the limited solubility of the coatings formed at pH < 7.7.The diverse behavior observed in the sorption studies has been interpreted in terms of solubility and absorption equilibria. The pH of the CaC03 suspensions was high enough to precipitate all added Pb as hydroxy species, and excess Cu tended to precipitate at pH > 6.4 if one increased the soluble carbonate level (e.g. by adding acid). Unlike Cd and Cu, Zn was not chemisorbed; it formed sparingly soluble compounds such as ZnC03.2Zn(OH)2, with excess coming out as Zn(OH)2 at pH > 7.7.The significance of the results in respect to the mobility of metal ions in calcareous soils, and the evaluation of available levels, has been considered.