Removal of cadmium (II) from simulated wastewater by ion flotation technique

A separation technique which has recently received a sharp increase in research activities is “ion flotation”. thistechnique has four important advantages for treating wastewaters: low energy consumption, small spacerequirements, small volume of sludge and acting selectively. the present study aims to optimize parameters of ionflotation for cadmium removal in simulated wastewater at laboratory scale. it was obtained on the reactionbetween cd2+ and sodium dodecylesulfate (sds) collector followed by flotation with ethanol as frother. testsolution was prepared by combining the required amount of cadmium ion, sds and necessary frother or sodiumsulfate solution. all experiments were carried out in a flotation column at laboratory temperature (27°c), adjustedph = 4 and 120 minutes. the different parameters (namely: flow rate, cadmium, sds and frother concentrationsand ionic strength) influencing the flotation process were examined. the best removal efficiency obtained at acollector-metal ratio of 3:1 in 60 min with flow rate of 150 ml/min was 84%. the maximum cadmium removal was92.1% where ethanol was introduced at a concentration 0.4% to flotation column with above conditions. theobtained results were promising, as both cadmium and collector were effectively removed from wastewater. hence,the application of ion flotation for metal ions removal from effluents seems to be efficient.