Study on the electrodialytic nickel concentration from electroplating industry waste

Owing to the ability of electrodialysis to produce highly concentrated solutions from dilute stream, in this paper, the possibility of nickel recovery and concentration from real electroplating industrial waste was discussed. The results showed that the nickel content in solutions after electrodialysis was approximately two times higher than in the initial working solutions, and the nickel recovery exceeded 85%. The nickel electric current efficiency (CENi) depended upon the type of electroplating bath and its acidic behaviour. The CENi was in the range of 52.3-70.6%. Moreover, high boron and the total organic carbon retention coefficients equal to 88.92% and 93.93% respectively, were observed.