Thallium Removal Technology Development Project
Principal Investigator: Dr. Larry Twidwell
ltwidwell@mtech.edu
This research was conducted in response to the need for bench-scale laboratory investigations to develop appropriate thallium removal technologies prior to a pilot-scale demonstration project. Two technologies that had potential of meeting the proposed thallium level were used for the laboratory bench-scale experimental study, e.g., manganese dioxide adsorption (readily available as a waste product from zinc electrowinning operations) and reductive precipitation of thallium utilizing elemental iron (a relatively inexpensive reagent available in scrap form). It was found that thallium can be effectively loaded onto manganese dioxide; however, stripping the thallium from the manganese dioxide was very difficult, and an appropriate technique could not be found. For the reductive precipitation portion of the study, iron was used to control the solution potential at a level that would promote precipitation of thallium sulfide. Project results validated this process. Application of the controlled potential reductive precipitation concept to a real waste water reduced thallium concentrations to <1μg/L.
Activity IV, Project 12
Final Report
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