Waste Tire Derived Materials to Treat Phosphate Processing Waste

9 Pages Posted: 26 Jun 2020

See all articles by Itziar Iraola Arregui

Itziar Iraola Arregui

Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P); Stellenbosch University, Process Engineering department

Maximilian Weiss

University of Applied Sciences Augsburg, Germany

Percy Van Der Gryp

The University of Manchester

Cara Schwarz

University of Applied Sciences Augsburg, Germany

Date Written: June 26, 2020

Abstract

The process of obtaining phosphate from mining produces large amounts of waste. Finding an eco-friendly way of treating and/or valorising these by-products is of utmost importance for the phosphate processing industry, the settlements located near to the mine and processing plant and the environment in general. On the other hand, due to the fast development of the modern society, the transportation needs and therefore the number of tires produced to fulfill those requirements is increasing daily. When reaching their end-of-life those tires enter the waste stream creating a significant issue since they are very difficult to handle. The use of waste tire derived materials for the treatment of phosphate waste sludge could tackle both problems at once. This study focused on the use of waste tire crumb and the solid residue (char) of tire pyrolysis to adsorb trace elements (that are usually present in phosphate water effluents) from synthetic solutions. Cu and Ni where the minerals analysed in this case study. The behaviour of waste tire derived adsorbents in batch adsorption systems was studied varying the pH, contact time and cation to adsorbent quantity ratio. At optimum adsorption conditions, the potential adsorbent materials and their behaviour with the two heavy metal cations, differs. While char shows high affinity to adsorb Cu (>97% removal), crumb does not interact with this metal to a high extent giving a lower value (around 30%). On the other hand, for Ni, crumb performed slightly better than char although none of them reached 20% removal. When both cations were present simultaneously in the solution a negative impact on the Ni removal was noticeable for char, due to the leaching from the adsorbent. The adsorption process follows most likely an ion exchange mechanism. Therefore, this study shows the potential of waste tire derived materials for heavy metal cations removal from aqueous solutions.

Keywords: waste tires; phosphate processing; adsorption; heavy metals

Suggested Citation

Arregui, Itziar Iraola and Weiss, Maximilian and Van Der Gryp, Percy and Schwarz, Cara, Waste Tire Derived Materials to Treat Phosphate Processing Waste (June 26, 2020). SYMPHOS 2019 – 5th International Symposium on Innovation & Technology in the Phosphate Industry, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3636086 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3636086

Itziar Iraola Arregui (Contact Author)

Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) ( email )

Lot 660, Hay Moulay Rachid
Benguérir, MO Rhamna 41130
Morocco

Stellenbosch University, Process Engineering department ( email )

Private Bag X1
Stellenbosch, Western Cape 7602
South Africa

Maximilian Weiss

University of Applied Sciences Augsburg, Germany ( email )

Campus am Roten Tor, Schülestraße 1
Augsburg
Germany

Percy Van Der Gryp

The University of Manchester ( email )

Booth St West
Manchester, N/A M15 6PB
United Kingdom

Cara Schwarz

University of Applied Sciences Augsburg, Germany ( email )

Campus am Roten Tor, Schülestraße 1
Augsburg
Germany

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