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This technology from Universiti Sains Malaysia won a Gold Award at the recent Malaysian Technology Expo (MTE 2006). For example 74.2 ppm copper in an industrial wastewater sample is reduced to less than 1.0 ppm and more than 95% gold can be recovered from an initial concentration of 500 ppm in 3 hours

An Innovative Electrogenerative Process for the Recovery and Removal of Metals from Industrial Effluents Researchers: Associate Professor Norita Mohamed and Dr Hamzah Darus Overview of System - An electrochemical reactor operated in an eletrogenerative mode for the removal and recovery of metals at low concentrations - A highly cost effective alternative to conventional wastewater treatment methods - It does not require an external supply of energy - The system can be made selective for particular metals from the choice of electrodes used Recoverable/removable metal ions include copper, gold, hexavalent chromium, lead, nickel and silver Benefits - Does not require an external energy source - cheap, selective and efficient system - minimum attention for operation - no need for sludge disposal - reduced operating costs - water can be recycled after treatment - metal removal is possible 'at source' as well as 'end of pipe' - requires little expertise on the part of the user - applicable to a wide range of metal ion concentrations Technical background - It can be operated in various types of configurations: static batch reactor, single pass reactor, batch recycle reactor and multiple reactor. - sustainable electrodes, separators and electrolytes are used Examples of applications - Hexavalent chromium can be reduced to trivalent chromium whlich is less toxic, achieving a final hexavalent chromium concentration below 0.05 ppm - 74.2 ppm copper in an industrial wastewater sample is reduced to less than 1.0 ppm whilst recovering the copper metal - More than 95% gold in metallic form can be recovered from an initial concentration of 500 ppm in 3 hours Targeted industries - Metal plating industries - electronic industries - mining and metal treatment industries - photographic shops/printing industries

Associated links

• Associate Professor Norita Mohamed (contact details available to registered journalists)
• Universiti Sains Malaysia

Meeting information

Malaysian Technology Expo 2006