Recovery of lead from simulated wastewater by using stainless steel rotating cylinder electrode electrochemical reactor

Abstract

a b s t r a c tRecovery of lead from simulated wastewater was investigated in a batch mode rotating cylinder electrode reactor. Lead ions were cathodically reduced in a 0.5 M sodium chloride solution at a 316L stainless steel rotating cylinder electrode. These experiments were conducted for different Pb 2+ concentrations (50, 100, 150 and 200 ppm), different values of solution pH (2, 3, 5 and 6.5) and different rotation rates (100, 150, 200 and 250 rpm). The potential under which the process is mass transfer control was found to be -1 V vs. standard calomel electrode, which is a reference electrode. Diffusion coefficient and diffusion layer thickness for this process was found experimentally. A dimensionless empirical correlation was constructed according to the experimental results among the Sherwood number, Reynolds number and Schmidt number.