Remoción de cromo hexavalente en aguas residuales a partir de tratamientos electroquímicos en la empresa Tenería Núñez

Abstract

Hexavalent chromium is a highly toxic metal and is considered one of the pollutants with the greatest environmental impact. The electro oxidative system with titanium mesh electrodes was applied as a feasible alternative in the wastewater treatment of Tenería Núñez.

Specifically, the activities developed in this research establish as an initial stage the design and construction of an electrolytic cell, where the indirect anodic oxidation process was carried out, giving rise to the generation of oxidizing radicals, which will be found in the form of bubbles that reduce the hexavalent chromium Cr (VI) of the wastewater by a bubbling process with oxygen particles produced in the electrolysis process. The method of Cr (VI) content quantification applies visible spectrophotometry at a wavelength of 540 nanometers (nm). The variables applied varied the electrochemical reaction time (30 minutes, 60 minutes and 120 minutes) and electrical voltage (5, volts, 10 volts and 20 volts), as the time and electrical voltage were higher the percentage of Cr (VI) removal increased.

The removal of Cr (VI) improved when the electrolysis time was 120 minutes and the electrical voltage was 20 volts in the treatments used. The research evaluated the removal capacity of Cr (VI) from oxidation with oxygen bubbles as a secondary wastewater treatment process so that the removal efficiency of this parameter substantially decreases the toxicity of this analyte.