Heavy metals removal from municipal wastewater sludge under the effect of electric current application

The application of an electric current was used to investigate the removal of heavy metals from a dewatered wastewater municipal sludge. Electric current application enabled the removal of Nickel, Chromium, Zinc, and Copper from sludge samples. Distilled water was introduced to the electro-kinetic cell used for the study to compensate for cathodic effluent. Both fresh and older sludge were used and metal removal was higher for the fresh sludge. The amount of collected cathodic effluent, pH fluctuations, and electrical conductivity variations of the collected cathodic effluent were investigated as the governing factors for the process. Within the short periods of testing, removal of nickel, chromium, zinc, and copper reached 41%, 8%, 6.7%, and 4.7% respectively.