Nickel removal from waters using a surfactant-enhanced hybrid powdered activated carbon/microfiltration process. II. The influence of process variables

This study focused on the removal of nickel ions from aqueous solution using a surfactant-enhanced (SE) powdered activated carbon (PAC)/microfiltration (MF) hybrid membrane process. The main objective of the research is to investigate the technical performance of the process under the influences of all relevant process variables namely process time, recycling time, pH, temperature, PAC concentration, surfactant concentration, nickel concentration, cross-flow velocity, and transmembrane pressure, thus to reveal its applicability to water problems involved in heavy metal pollution. The concentrations of PAC, surfactant, metal, and H⁺ ion were determined as significant process stream variables, while transmembrane pressure and temperature came into prominence as significant operating variables. ANOVA calculations indicated that the total influences of these six variables on process performance realized in a range of about 93-98%. Nickel concentration and PAC amount in the feed were established as the most influential variables for nickel rejection, and surfactant rejection and permeate flux, respectively. The increase of PAC from 0.1 to 4 g/L led to a flux decline of about 60%. The most critical parameter for process performance was the mass ratio of PAC to surfactant (PAC/surfactant) per unit mass of metal removed. The process which may be effectively operated in continuous cross-flow filtration mode within a short filtration time of 30 min has crucial advantages compared to high pressure driven membrane processes and offers a promising alternative to remove heavy metal pollutants from drinking waters and metal bearing wastewaters.