Recovery of H2SO4 from waste acid solution by a diffusion dialysis method

A diffusion dialysis method using anion exchange membrane was used to recover H2SO4 from waste sulfuric acid solution produced at the diamond manufacturing process. Effects of flow rate, operation temperature, and metal ion concentration on the recovery of H2SO4 were investigated. The recovery of H2SO4 increased with the concentration of H2SO4 and operation temperature. It also increased with the flow rate ratio of water/H2SO4 solution up to 1, above which no further increase was observed. The flow rate did not affect the rejection of Fe and Ni ions. About 80% of H2SO4 could be recovered from waste sulfuric acid which contained 4.5 M free-H2SO4 at the flow rate of 0.26 × 10−3 m3/h m3. The concentration of recovered H2SO4 was 4.3 M and the total impurity was 2000 ppm. Preliminary economic evaluation has revealed that the dialysis system is highly attractive one that has payback period of only few months.