A membrane electroflotation process for recovery of recyclable chromium(III) from tannery spent liquor effluent

Rajeswari Selvaraj; Manikandan Santhanam; Vidhya Selvamani; Sundarapandiyan Sundaramoorthy; Maruthamuthu Sundaram

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2017.11.052

A membrane electroflotation process for recovery of recyclable chromium(III) from tannery spent liquor effluent

J Hazard Mater. 2018 Mar 15:346:133-139. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2017.11.052. Epub 2017 Dec 2.

Authors

Rajeswari Selvaraj¹, Manikandan Santhanam², Vidhya Selvamani³, Sundarapandiyan Sundaramoorthy⁴, Maruthamuthu Sundaram²

Affiliations

¹ Corrosion and Material Protection Division, CSIR - Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CSIR - CECRI), Karaikudi, 630 006, India; Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), CSIR - CECRI, Karaikudi, 630 006, India. Electronic address: raje23madurai@gmail.com.
² Corrosion and Material Protection Division, CSIR - Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CSIR - CECRI), Karaikudi, 630 006, India; Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), CSIR - CECRI, Karaikudi, 630 006, India.
³ Corrosion and Material Protection Division, CSIR - Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CSIR - CECRI), Karaikudi, 630 006, India.
⁴ Regional Centre for Extension and Development (RCED) - Kanpur, CSIR - Central Leather Research Institute (CSIR - CLRI), Chennai, 600 020, India.

PMID: 29253752
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2017.11.052

Abstract

A two-compartment membrane electroflotation reactor has been demonstrated for recovery of recyclable chromium(III) from tannery spent liquor effluent. Dimensionally stable RuO₂/TiO₂-Ti and Ti were used as anode and cathode, respectively. The spent liquor effluent was used as catholyte and 0.01 N H₂SO₄ used as anolyte which was separated by Nafion 117 membrane. About 98% of chromium(III) was recovered and the removal efficiency correlated with the presence of organics in the effluent. The advantage of two-compartment membrane electroflotation process is capable of removing chromium(III) without oxidising it into chromium(VI) in chloride containing tannery spent liquor effluent. The mechanism of chromium(III) removal has been discussed. The recovered Cr(OH)₃ was successfully demonstrated for tanning of cowhide.

Keywords: Chromium(III); Electroflotation; Recovery; Reuse; Tannery effluent.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't