Copper removal from industrial wastewaters by means of electrostatic shielding

Electrostatic shielding zones made of electrode graphite powder were used as a new type of ionic and electronic currentsinks. Because of the local elimination of the applied electric field, voltage and current within the zones, ions are led insidethem and accumulate there. We implemented the current sinks in electrodialysis of a simulated copper plating rinse watercontaining 100 mg L-1 Cu2+ ions and electrodeionization of a 0.001 M CuSO4 solution with simultaneous electrochemicalregeneration of the used ion exchange resin beds and obtained pure water with a Cu2+ ion concentration of less than 0.12 mgL-1 at a flow rate of 1.29x10-4 L s-1 diluate stream and a current density of 2 mA cm-2