Use of ion-selective membranes for the recovery of sulphuric acid out of contaminated solutions. Comparing electrodialysis, electro electrodialysis and diffusion dialysis

摘要

The amount of waste arising from dismantled reactors is minimized by decontamination processes. These processes result in contaminated effluents, containing acid and metal salts. The quantity of final waste can be substantially reduced when the acid is extracted out of the decontamination effluents prior to neutralisation. This report discusses three membrane techniques for the displacement of acids out of mixed acid/salt solutions: electrodialysis (ED), electro electrodialysis (EED) and diffusion dialysis (DD) . EED uses an electrical potential difference across an anion-selective membrane; DD uses a concentration difference across an anion-selective membrane; ED uses an electrical potential difference, across an anion- and a cation- selective membrane. EED can displace up to 90% of the sulphuric acid, the amount of metal ions in the displaced-acid solution is less than 1% of the ions in the original contaminated solution. Treatment costs are estimated to about 18 Belgian Francs per litre. In DD the purity of the displaced acid is comparable to EED. Treatment costs are about 21 Belgian Francs per litre. In ED 90% acid-displacement is easily reached, but 5% metal ions are also displaced. Treatment costs are about 6 Belgian Francs per litre. Therefore, in spite of the lower purity of the resulting acid, ED is economically speaking the best choice.