This article addresses the production of an adsorbing hydrogel to be used for removal of heavy metals. A review of literature on hydrogel adsorption of heavy metals is highlighted. The adopted process is briefly described and typical adsorption results as compared to reported work are presented. The technical specifications of an industrial scale plant of appropriate capacity of 3000 ton/year are detailed. The total capital investment and the production cost have been estimated to be about $M 10.6 and 6.5, respectively. Financial analysis determined the effect of variation of selling price within the reported international range on financial indicators. Furthermore, analysis of the effect of variation by 10% increase/decrease of capital investment and annual operating cost has been also estimated. Indicators include net present value (NPV $M), internal rate of return (IRR%), and average simple return of return (Average. SRR%), which have been estimated as 24%, 18%, and 19%, respectively. The project proves to be techno-economically viable under the estimated conditions for wider application.
K E Y W O R D Scomposite adsorbents, economics, heavy metals, industrial plant
INTRODUCTIONHeavy metals pollution of different water resources is of worldwide environmental concern. 1 These toxic metal ions, even at low concentration, have deteriorated water resources used for drinking water causing serious environmental and health problems. 2 Different methods have been adopted for the removal of heavy metal present in wastewaters. The most commonly used methods include but not limited to ion-exchange, chemical precipitation, electrocoagulation/floatation, and membrane separation. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9] Various adsorbents have been used for removal of heavy metals from wastewater due to their high removal capacity and economic benefits. 10,11 Adsorbent materials such as activated carbon, 12 zeolites, 9,13 clays, 14,15 ion exchange resins, 16 and hydrogel 17 have been developed and are used commercially for the removal of heavy metal ions. Organic-inorganic hybrid polymers have been recently applied. The functional variation of organic materials is combined with advantages of a thermally stable and strong inorganic substrate which results in relatively high metal ionThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
