D. Tech. Chemical Engineering. / This research aims to improve the current state of wastewater treatment technologies by exploiting the characteristics and capabilities of nanomaterials. Also, it aims at protecting the environment and human health by minimizing exposure of toxic contaminants found in waters sources by treatment with cheaply engineered materials. The nanocomposites that will be employed in this study have shown to be effective for removing a number of heavy metals from aqueous solutions during trial experiment. The study is therefore carried out to reduce the water scarcity in South Africa by minimizing the contamination of remaining water resources. With industrial effluents the main targets, the aim is to design systems that will enable industries to recycle their wastewater instead of discharging into the environment. This study will therefore benefit the communities who solely depend on surface and ground water and again it will safe industrial bodies high costs of treating their wastewater with ineffective conventional methods. The research focuses on the application of polypyrrole-clay nanocomposites for removing heavy metals from wastewater streams. The research conducted hereby highlights the application of polymer based nanocomposites as suitable adsorbents for the remediation of the toxic chromium(VI) [Cr(VI)] from water. The work describes the preparation and characterization of the nanocomposites, their application to wastewater laden with Cr(VI) in both batch and continuous adsorption and finally understanding the adsorbent-adsorbate interactions and sorption mechanisms under various physico-chemical conditions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:tut/oai:encore.tut.ac.za:d1001683 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Setshedi, Katlego. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format |
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