Effect of Electrodeposition Reactor Type on Nickel Recovery from Electroplating Wastewater

Nickel recovery from synthetic electroplating wastewater using electrodeposition reactor has been investigated. The experiment was conducted in batch system using two types of electrodeposition reactors, partitioned reactors using water hyacinth leaf and single chamber reactor, a copper plate cathode size, graphite anode and applied DC voltage of 5 V. The goal of this research was to obtain the best reactor type for nickel electrodeposition from NiSO4 solution. Factors analyzed in the study were the change in pH, conductivity, electric current, cathode mass and nickel concentration in the catholyte. The electrodeposition was carried out during 4 hours. The initial concentration of nickel in the catholyte contained 2,402.19 mg/L. The results showed that the partitioned reactor using of water hyacinth leaf performed better than the single chamber reactor. The partitioned reactor using water hyacinth leaf decreased concentration of nickel in catholyte to 1756.19 mg/L and had the current efficiency of 88.17% with the specific energy of 5.2 kwh/kg nickel.