The Application of Electrodialysis on the Treatment of Effluents with Chromium Hexavalent

The possibilities for treating rinse waters fiom chromating bath by electrodialysis are discussed together with the possibilities of optimizing the treatment process for waste reduction and reuse of water and chemical products. An industrial effluent with 4600 ppm of Cr(VI), besides other metallic contamination, was used as work solution. This solution has been recirculated on an electrodialysis cell of three compartments, using exchange membranes Selemiom AMT and CMT. A migration of dichromate ions into the anodic compartment was obtained, so that an extraction of circa 99.9 % of Cr(VI) present on the solution was observed, resulting in water with a Cr(V[) concentration of 4 rnd. These results show that electrodialysis can be used to treat these effluents, and this water could be reused as rinse water. The solution of the anodic compartment, consisting at the beginning of the experiment of H2S04, 0.1 N, reached 7200 mg/l of Cr(VI). This concentrate could be reused on the chromating bath itself.