Selective chelating precipitation of palladium metal from electroplating wastewater using chitosan and its derivative

Abstract

A study on selective chelating precipitation of palladium metal from real electroplating wastewater using chitosan and its water-soluble derivative was conducted. The pH parameter, the concentrations of chitosan and its water-soluble derivative and the chelating precipitation time were experimentally investigated, and the optimum conditions were determined. The results revealed that both chitosan and its water-soluble derivative acted as chelating precipitation agents. Rapid chelating precipitation occurred when chitosan was added to real electroplating wastewater containing the chitosan derivative, thereby improving removal efficiency of palladium in different forms up to 95% under the optimum condition of 0.2 g/L chitosan and 0.16 mg/L derivative at pH 2.5. Then, dissolution experiments showed that chelating precipitation products could be dissolved in aqua regia. Additionally, selective chelating precipitation of palladium by chitosan and its derivative was characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Thus, it can be concluded that the combined utilization of chitosan and its water-soluble derivative is a promising approach method for the removal of different forms of palladium from real electroplating wastewater.