emew Blog

Two case studies on the value of metal recovery from wastewater

A question that we hear from Clients every day is "Can I recover (copper - or other metals) from this?"  The material in question can be concentrated wastes, dilute effluents, ores, concentrates, residues, plating baths, bleed streams and so on.  It seems like a very easy and straightforward question to answer, and in some cases that is true.  In other cases, however, the answer is a bit more complicated requiring some additional information.  Let's take a closer look at the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to the common question "Can I recover (copper - or other metals) from this?"

Electrocoagulation (EC) is an electrolytic process that is used mostly for wastewater and industrial process water treatment. Due to its unique ability to remove contaminants such as emulsified oils, suspended solids and dissolved metals, electrocoagulation has become one of the fastest growing technologies in this area. There are various devices and systems that comprise the basic principle of electrocoagulation which I would like to explain in this article.

In a world which is increasingly demanding sustainability, nonferrous metal recycling has become a very important practice. Opting for recycling does not only mean being responsible towards the environment and reducing the carbon footprint, it is also a very reasonable business in industries that rely on using non-renewable resources.

Objectives of advanced green technologies

Advanced green technologies (AGTs) refer to a group of practical methodologies and materials based, among others, on non-toxic chemical processes, clean energies, and environmental monitoring to slow down or correct the negative impact induced by human activities.

Modern mobile technology offers tech professionals various ways to stay on top of things when it comes to equipment news, technology updates, or resource price fluctuations. We gathered together five mobile applications that can help metal and wastewater professionals keep up with rapidly changing industry trends. 

As copper continues to be a rich and desired resource for a variety of products such as electrical wire, building infrastructure, electronics and other technology alike, copper process plants have responded by striving to continuously optimize and capture as much copper as possible from their mining processes. 

Mining processes have always looked for different ways to optimize their operations such as saving water, using less energy, and minimize on-site waste streams or tailings. Some of these optimizing techniques have included process water recycling from clarified tailings, transfering energy between solutions in heat exchangers, incorporating more gravity controlled flows between processes instead of using pumps, or recovering lost metal from waste streams. 

Billions of litres of wastewater are treated every year in wastewater treatment plants around the world. This wastewater, both industrial and municipal, can contain various pollutants depending on the source. Wastewater may contain soap, waste products, food scraps, human waste, oils and in some cases, metals. The main goal of wastewater treatment is to preserve the environment and keep the pollutants out of rivers and oceans.

What is wastewater effluent?

Effluent is generally considered to be water pollution. According to Wikipedia effluent is an outflowing of water or gas from a natural body of water, or from a manmade structure. United States Environmental Protection Agency defines it as "wastewater - treated or untreated - that flows out of a treatment plant, sewer, or industrial outfall. Generally, refers to wastes discharged into surface waters".  Wastewater is any water that is affected in quality by human impact on the environment.