ELECTROCHEMICAL CHROMIUM (VI) RECOVERY PROCESS BY CONDUCTING COMPOSITE, OLIVE POMACE/PANI

Abstract

We examined the use of a new conducting composite material which was prepared from olive pomace (OP) and polyaniline, developed and used for the fabrication of electrode, which was then used as substrate for the recovery of chromium hexavalent to an aqueous solution through electrical conductivity tests. We used the spectral analysis techniques such as FT-IR and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to characterize the material as well as Laser Particle Size and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to show that the PANI was successfully attached to OP. We carried out electrosorption tests in acid medium within an electrochemical cell at a potential of +800 mV imposed and we compared the recovery with chemical adsorption at open circuit under the same conditions. The results demonstrated that the electrosorption of Cr (VI) is superior to the adsorption, which is due to the excellent electrical conductivity and mechanical properties of OP/PANI composite electrode. Through the electrosorption and electrodesorption we studied the possibility of regeneration of our electrode