LEAD REMOVAL AND FILTRATION EFFICIENCY OF WATER AND WASTEWATER THROUGH EXPANDED RECYCLED GLASS
Petrella, A., Petrella, M., Boghetich, G., Calabrese, D.,Abbaticchio, P.E., Raio, E., Loperfido, S., Guastamacchia, M., Petruzzelli, D.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Polytechnic University of Bari, 4, Italy
(free)
Investigation of the use of commercial porous glass from solid waste recycling operations, in environmental applications (i.e., filtration, selective removal of heavy metals) is the main purpose of the present work. Filtration experiments were carried-out using two bench scale systems of which the first was operated downflow with synthetic natural water (70 NTU) percolating through 0.25-0.50 mm grain size glass particles and the second operated with conventional silica sand (0.25-0.50 mm), at constant operative conditions, as control. In both cases turbidity abatement exceeded 97% the influent figure. Column headloss and filtration flowrates of the Recycled Porous Waste Glass (RPWG) was definitely better than the corresponding sandy material.
As a side benefit, lead ion was also removed by the glassy materials by sorption-ion exchange. In this latter context, operations were carried-out dynamically by the use of laboratory columns loaded with glass beads (0.5-1 mm) which were eluted with synthetic solutions (2.2 mg Pb2+/L). Best performance were obtained at 0.21 L/h when lead retention capacities exceeded 1.04 mg/g.
KEY WORDS Solid waste recycling, recycled porous glass, secondary raw materials, lead removal, sand filtration.
