Removal of Heavy Metals from Steel Making Waste Water by Using Electric Arc Furnace Slag

This work investigated the reduction of chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended solids (TSS) and the concentration of heavy metals of wastewater from a steel making plant. Adsorption experiments were carried out by electric arc furnace slag (EAFS) in a fixed-bed column mode. The raw wastewater did not meet the standard B limitations, having high values of BOD, COD, TSS, Iron, Zinc, Manganese and Copper. After passing through the fixed bed column, BOD, COD and TSS values decreased to 1.6, 6.3 and <2 mgL-1, respectively while the concentration of Iron, Zinc, Manganese and Copper were 0.08, 0.01, 0.03 and 0.07 mgL-1, respectively. The results confirmed that EAFS can be used as an efficient adsorbent for producing treated water that comply with the Standard B limitations for an industrial effluent.