A novel tannery wastewater treatment and recovery method for chromium for industrial usages by adsorption and Photocatalysis with a case study

In tannery factories, chromium sulfate is used for the improvement of leather quality. High chromium concentration in these wastewaters is a critical threat to the environment. In this study, Cr3+ and Cr6+ removal are studied with a novel method to the highest global standards with 95% chromium recovery for tannery industrial reuse. In this study, a wastewater from one of the tannery factories in the east of Iran was used. Average chromium concentration in this wastewater was measured 5000 mg/L. After passing through an activated carbon column and after that an activated alumina column, and finally 99.98% of chromium is removed and concentration reaches to less than 1 mg/L. Also washing of adsorbents with 5% sulfuric acid, chromium sulfate solution for tannery usages would be produced.

Keywords:

Tannery wastewater , Chromium recovery , Photocatalysis , Adsorption