Treatment of Zinc Plating Wastewater by Combination of Electrocoagulation and Ultrafiltration Process

Abstract

In this study treatment of zinc plating wastewater by combination of electrocoagulation (EC) and ultrafiltration (UF) processes was investigated. The effect of operating parameters such as wastewater pH, flow rate and membrane pore size on zinc removal was investigated to optimize the EC-UF process. The results showed that zinc removal was pH dependent and optimum pH was 9.0. The zinc removal over 99% was achieved by the combined EC-UF process with both 50 and 100 kDa membranes at pH 9.0 and current density of 5 mA cm(-2). Suspended solids and oil-grease were also removed completely by the combined EC-UF process. The EC-UF process proved to be a promising technology for the treatment and recycling of zinc plating wastewater.