LEAD-CADMIUM IONS RECUPERATIVE SEPARATION BY CHITOSAN-sEPDM-POLYPROPYLENE HOLLOW FIBER COMPOSITE MEMBRANES

. Although batteries containing heavy metals and toxic chemicals, including lead and cadmium, are supposed to be selectively collected, they still end up on municipal waste processing platforms. The separation of cadmium and lead ions is a problem that is circumscribed to the development of urban mining. This paper presents the recuperative separation of lead and cadmium ions by a composite membrane based on chitosan (Chi), sulfonated ethylene- propylene-diene terpolymer (sEPDM), and polypropylene hollow fiber (PPyHF). The performances of selected membranes are presented comparatively, both from the point of view of the morpho-structural characteristics, as well as of the performances in the target ion separation process, with recently reported results obtained with composite membranes based on chitosan.