Removal of Cu (II) from Industrial Wastewater Using Mechanically Activated Serpentinite

Petros Petrounias, Aikaterini Rogkala, Panagiota P. Giannakopoulou, Paraskevi Lampropoulou, Petros Koutsovitis, Nikolaos Koukouzas, Nikolaos Laskaris, Panagiotis Pomonis and Konstantin Hatzipanagiotou
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Petros Petrounias: Section of Earth Materials, Department of Geology, University of Patras, 265 04 Patras, Greece
Aikaterini Rogkala: Section of Earth Materials, Department of Geology, University of Patras, 265 04 Patras, Greece
Panagiota P. Giannakopoulou: Section of Earth Materials, Department of Geology, University of Patras, 265 04 Patras, Greece
Paraskevi Lampropoulou: Section of Earth Materials, Department of Geology, University of Patras, 265 04 Patras, Greece
Petros Koutsovitis: Section of Earth Materials, Department of Geology, University of Patras, 265 04 Patras, Greece
Nikolaos Koukouzas: Chemical Process & Energy Resources Institute, Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH), Maroussi, 15125 Athens, Greece
Nikolaos Laskaris: Department of Industrial Design and Production Engineering, University of West Attica, Gr-12244 Egaleo, Greece
Panagiotis Pomonis: Department of Geology and Geoenvironment, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimioupolis Zografou, 157 84 Athens, Greece
Konstantin Hatzipanagiotou: Section of Earth Materials, Department of Geology, University of Patras, 265 04 Patras, Greece

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 9, 1-19

Abstract: We investigate with this study the effectiveness of mechanically activated serpentinite in capturing Cu (II) from the multi-constituent acidic wastewater of the pit lakes of the Agios Philippos mine (Greece), proposing specific areas with serpentinites suitable for such environmental applications. For this purpose ultramafic rock samples that are characterized by variable degrees of serpentinization from ophiolitic outcrops exposed in the regions of Veria-Naousa and Edessa have been examined regarding their capacity to remove the toxic load of Cu (II) from wastewater after having been mechanically activated through a Los Angeles (LA) machine (500, 1000 and 1500 revolutions). The more serpentinized and mechanically activated samples, as they have been characterized after a combination of various mineralogical, petrographic, geochemical analyses as well as after different stresses of abrasion and attrition, seem to be more effective in Cu removal than the less serpentinized ones. Selective removal of Cu (II) in the wroewolfeite phase was obtained by using the mechanically activated highly serpentinized ultramafic rocks. Furthermore, areas with highly serpentinized ultramafic rocks defined after petrographic mapping, using GIS method, which can potentially be used as filters for the effective Cu (II) removal from industrial wastewater are suggested.

Keywords: removal of Cu; mechanical activation of serpentinite; sustainability; wastewater treatment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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