Kinetics study on separation of cadmium from tellurium in acidic solution media using ion-exchange resins

The feasibility of using ion-exchange resins to separate cadmium from tellurium in acidic solutions of the two metals was investigated. We studied the competitive adsorption of cadmium and tellurium in such resins under varying acid strengths and contact time. We found that low sulfuric acid strength (i.e., 0.5 M) was most effective in removing cadmium from solutions. Different ion-exchange resins were tested for their affinity for cadmium and tellurium ions. In the selected systems, the ion-exchange rate of cadmium was rapid in the first 20 min, and reached equilibrium within 2 h. The Lagergren first-order model described the kinetic data with high coefficient of determination and correlation values. At room temperatures the ion-exchange for cadmium onto the resin followed the Freundlich isotherm model. The maximum removal of cadmium obtained from batch studies using resin A was 91%. Column studies with the same resin showed a removal of cadmium of 99.99% or higher.