DOI: https://doi.org/10.55373/mjchem.v24i4.75

Keywords: Copper recovery, electrogenerative process, ionic liquids, reticulated vitreous carbon, supporting electrolyte

Abstract

An electrogenerative process has acquired interest among scientists due to its feasible functioning to recover the heavy metals in polluted water. But due to its long-time recovery due to obstruction of ohmic resistance in conventional supporting electrolytes makes it less preferable. To conquer this issue, ionic fluids were acquainted to function in as a supporting electrolyte that accelerate conductivity of the application. This short article investigated the impacts of different kinds of imidazole-based ionic fluids such as 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (Bmim[Cl]), 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide (Bmim[Br]) and 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride(Emim[Cl]) as supporting electrolytes in the electrogenerative process. This electrogenerative process utilizes a batch cell comprising of a reticulated vitreous carbon as the cathode and pure zinc plate as the anode. The results show Emim[Cl] is the best performing supporting electrolyte to recover 99.9% of copper(II) from a copper(II) sulphate solution after 90 minutes of operation compared to 240 minutes in the use of conventional supporting electrolyte of ammonium chloride. The Emim[Cl] has a high conductivity and mobility characteristics which contribute to total recovery of copper(II) ions.