Self-Enhanced Decomplexation of Cu-Organic Complexes and Cu Recovery from Wastewaters Using an Electrochemical Membrane Filtration System

Heavy metals in industrial wastewaters are typically present as stable metal–organic complexes with their cost-effective treatment remaining a significant challenge. Herein, a self-enhanced decomplexation scenario is developed using an electrochemical membrane filtration (EMF) system for efficient decomplexation and Cu recovery. Using Cu-EDTA as a model pollutant, the EMF system achieved 81.5% decomplexation of the Cu-EDTA complex and 72.4% recovery of Cu at a cell voltage of 3 V. The •OH produced at the anode first attacked Cu-EDTA to produce intermediate Cu-organic complexes that reacted catalytically with the H2O2 generated from the reduction of dissolved oxygen at the cathode to initiate chainlike self-enhanced decomplexation in the EMF system. The decomplexed Cu products were further reduced or precipitated at the cathodic membrane surface thereby achieving efficient Cu recovery. By scavenging H2O2 (excluding self-enhanced decomplexation), the rate of decomplexation decreased from 8.8 × 10–1 to 4.1 × 10–1 h–1, confirming the important role of self-enhanced decomplexation in this system. The energy efficiency of this system is 93.5 g kWh–1 for Cu-EDTA decomplexation and 15.0 g kWh–1 for Cu recovery, which is much higher than that reported in the previous literature (i.e., 7.5 g kWh–1 for decomplexation and 1.2 g kWh–1 for recovery). Our results highlight the potential of using EMF for the cost-effective treatment of industrial wastewaters containing heavy metals.