Sequential Extraction and Determination of Chemical Forms of Zinc in Sulfate Sludge

Total content of zinc and other metals has been assayed in thesludge that remained after leaching zinc-bearing smelting losswith sulfuric acid. The paper also presents zinc speciationcarried out by means of the sequential extraction by Rudd and an analysis of chemical forms of zinc. It has been found thatzinc occurs mainly in the mobile, bioavailable, soluble form and in the moderately mobile, carbonate form. The speciationcarried out showed that zinc occurred in the sludge in the following forms (mg kg^-1): sulfate 143 000, oxide 79 000,metallic 68 200, siliceous 35 500, sulfide 20 800 and ferrate18 500. Preparatory extraction of zinc from the sludge usingwater, sodium salt of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)and acetic acid has also been conducted.     

Modification of Chitin with Kraft Lignin and Development of New Biosorbents for Removal of Cadmium(II) and Nickel(II) Ions

Novel, functional materials based on chitin of marine origin and lignin were prepared. The synthesized materials were subjected to physicochemical, dispersive-morphological and electrokinetic analysis. The results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method of synthesis of functional chitin/lignin materials. Mechanism of chitin modification by lignin is based on formation of hydrogen bonds between chitin and lignin. Additionally, the chitin/lignin materials were studied from the perspective of waste water treatment. The synthetic method presented in this work shows an attractive and facile route for producing low-cost chitin/lignin biosorbents with high efficiency of nickel and cadmium adsorption (88.0% and 98.4%, respectively). The discovery of this facile method of synthesis of functional chitin/lignin materials will also have a significant impact on the problematic issue of the utilization of chitinous waste from the seafood industry, as well as lignin by-products from the pulp and paper industry.     

The Occurrence of Metals in Composted Municipal Wastes and Their Removal

The organic fraction of municipal wastes has been composted on the laboratory scale. In the obtained compost the content of cadmium, cobalt, copper, manganese, nickel, lead and zinc were determined, as well as the speciation i.e, the form of their occurrence, making use of Rudd's method of sequential extraction. The investigations also concerned the way of removing these metals from the compost by means of leaching with solutions of sulphuric and nitric acid, as well as by electrochemically separating the metals from the solution after the compost had been leached with sulphuric acid. It has been found that the application of the electrochemical method with varying pH values of the leaching solution within the range of 6.8–2.8 allows for the separation of 83.5% Cd, 55.0% Co, 65.4% Cu, 59.4% Mn, 70.3% Ni, 90.5% Pb and 56.2% Zn.