A study of the adsorption and subsequent desorption of heavy metals using various concentrations of hydrochloric acids has been performed.
To accomplish this task, the following areas were investigated : immobilization of the sludge, adsorption of heavy metals, various concentrations of acid used as stripping agents, examination of the relative fractions of heavy metals obtained using various stripping agents, and the actual concentration of the acid at a particular fraction.
It was observed that water helps in extraction of cadmium to a certain extent, but lead cannot be extracted with water. Also, water mixed with dilute hydrochloric acid is more efficient in extraction of metals as compared with direct addition of strong hydrochloric acid. It was also observed that nitric acid was not a very effective stripping agent as compared with hydrochloric acid
