Green and Cost-Effective Separation of Cadmium from Base Metals in Chloride Medium with Halide-Loaded Anion Exchanger

A novel strategy for the separation of cadmium from base metals in chloride medium by anion exchange based on the formation of cadmium halo-complexes is presented in this article. Instead of using excess Br- or I- in the feed solution, the anion exchange resin or fibre was first preloaded with Br- or I- for Cd2+ adsorption from Cl- solution. Thus, the consumption of iodide or bromide was minimized while promising high adsorption stability of Cd2+. The adsorption thermodynamics and kinetics of Cd2+ were studied. The adsorption thermodynamics results were processed with Langmuir and Freundlich models and adsorption kinetics results were treated with Pseudo first order model, Pseudo second order model and intraparticle diffusion model. The adsorption mechanism was studied with the aid of FTIR and elemental analysis. Three strategies were applied for the stripping of Cd2+, including the use of water for disequilibrating its halo-complex formation, the formation of positively charged species with ammonia, and the formation of positively charged chelate with multidentate ligand ethylenediamine. On the bases of these results, separation performance was investigated with strongly basic anion exchange resin and fibre, and it was shown that Cd2+ can be efficiently separated from base metals in a wide range of acidity, and that pure Cd2+ solution can be obtained, thus providing a robust, environmentally friendly, and economic technology for its separation.