Filter materials for sorption of Cu and Zn in stormwater treatment
Per-Albin Norman has now finalised his master thesis ”Filter materials for sorption of Cu and Zn in stormwater treatment: a batch equilibrium and kinetic study”. The thesis work has been carried out together with Stormwater&Sewers within the Formas project Area-efficient stormwater treatment - Where? When? How?
Batch experiments were carried out in the laboratory to assess the sorption of copper and zink in five different filter materials and investigate the reaction rate of the sorption reactions. Furthermore it was studied whether or not any competitive sorption occurred between the metals.
The results showed that biochar had the highest sorption capacity followed by peat, bark, milkweed, and polypropylene. At higher concentrations of both copper and zink in the initial solution, copper was sorbed to the filter materials in larger extent than zink compared to the experiments where only zink was in the solution. The kinetic experiments showed that the reactions between the filter materials and the metal ions were quick – within 5-10 minutes most metals were sorbed to the sorbents. The results also indicated that the metals were adsorbed to the surfaces and that the precipitation of metals was unlikely.
Per-Albin Norman has now finalized his studies at Luleå University of Technology and started to work as an consultant at SWECO in Luleå. He will work with stormwater.
[http://ltu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1193209/FULLTEXT02.pdf]
