Thesis Archive
Conversion of Lignocelluloses into bioethanol utilizing hardwood sawdust used for pleurotus ostreatus cultivation (2011)
Jean Tiffany S. Lo
Herschel Lawrence V. Tan
Abstract:
-“Copper is one metal which is widely used in construction and electrical industries due to its properties, such as ductility, malleability and conductivity. Industrial metal companies involved in the manufacture of copper products generate large amounts of wastewater that usually contain high amounts of the precious metal. A specific metal company generates wastewater containing as much as 25-30% copper. In order to comply with the environmental standards set by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the wastewater is treated generating sludge which contains most of the copper lost in the sludge. One way to counteract this loss is metal recovery through the method of electrolysis. This study aims for the recovery of copper from an industrial wastewater using the method of electrolysis. In order to attain a high recovery rating, different variables such as a current density, stirring rate, electrode distance and anode material, affecting the process, were considered. Furthermore a L934 orthogonal array and the Taguchi method, a statistical technique that allows the main effects to be estimated with the least number of experimental runs, were used. It was found that increasing the pH of the wastewater to 3 will only produce a slight increase in percent recovery and increasing the pH some more will force the formation of copper hydroxide. Furthermore the results showed low current efficiency ranging from 17.63% to 85.21% while the percent copper recover was 80% and above for all actual runs. And with the main effect plot analysis, it was determined that most influential parameter for the current efficiency and copper recovery is current density and stirring rate respectively while the least influential for both is electrode distance. The best parameters of the four variables for current efficiency were 30 A/m2, 700 rpm, 20 mm and lead anode while for copper recovery were 90 A/m2, 700 rpm, 30 mm and aluminum anode. “
Adviser:
” Wilheliza Baraoidan
Lawrence Belo