- Thesis topic: Recovery of Cerium from Industrial Waste Incinerator Ash using Liquid to Liquid Extraction

- Doi: https://doi.org/10.6840/cycu202200063

- Abstract: 

         Waste disposal is still a problem in waste processing. Incinerators are the most effective way to dispose of solid waste today. Fly ash may pollute the atmosphere and other environmental components. The recovery element is one of the approaches that may be utilized to deal with harmful substances. Cerium is a common rare-earth element in fly ash. Because cerium is a metalloid, its elemental form is challenging to detect. This research evaluates the best recovery method for baghouse, cooling, and venture scrubber ash performing with a hydrometallurgical process using environmentally friendly and familiar chemical agents. The leaching agent, concentration, temperature, stirring time, and solid-to-liquid ratio were studied. The Taguchi technique improved the leaching process to decrease the number of tests using different parameter combinations. The optimal leaching conditions were 1 M citric acid, 1/100 solid to liquid, and 5 hours at room temperature. The leaching experiment's most significant characteristics were the baghouse ash's acid type and S/L ratio with p-values of 0.002 and 0.004, respectively. Liquid-liquid extraction has successfully carried 100% cerium from baghouse ash with 0.04 M D2EHPA in sunflower oil, while TBP in sunflower oil at 0.04 M convey 100% cerium from cooling ash, whereas TBP in sunflower oil at various concentrations could transmit 100% cerium from venture scrubber ash.

Keywords: waste incinerator ash, hydrometallurgical process, cerium, environmentally friendly, Taguchi method