Potentials and Challenges of Heavy Metal Recovery and Removal from Zinc and Lead Industrial Waste Streams Using Membrane Technology

Pollutions generated from zinc and lead industrial units are considered as one of the serious environmental concerns due to the presence of various types of heavy metals. Therefore, in recent years, numerous technologies have been exploited for the removal and recovery of heavy metals from waste water streams. With the emergence of novel technologies and particularly membrane-based separations, new opportunities are opened for application of membranes for the treatment of waste water streams with easier operation and higher productivity. The present manuscript aims to introduce the properties and potentials of various membrane technologies including ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, nanofiltration and electrodialysis for the treatment of waste water streams containing heavy metals with special attention to the zinc and lead industry. The opportunities, challenges, benefits and limitations of each technology are presented and described in details. Based on carried out assessments and considering factors such as energy consumption, removal efficiency, membrane flux and process costs, nanofiltration can be recommended as one of the best choices for heavy metal removal from waste water streams. However, other studied technologies can also gain wide applicability for this purpose by overcoming the limitations and obstacles such as fouling, high energy consumption and chemical usage.