Study on copper removal from berberine wastewater using ion exchange resin

Ion exchange resins (D152, D113, D401) were applied to the treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater containing copper ions and berberine. The D401 was selected as optimal polymeric adsorbent based on the comparison of copper and berberine adsorption removal rates. In addition, the adsorption kinetics and thermodynamics were analyzed, and the Cu ²⁺ removal efficiency of competitive adsorption process within berberine-copper system was investigated. Flowing experiments were carried out at 1 BV/h, 2 BV/h and 5 BV/h flow velocity to investigate the effluent copper and berberine concentrations under the dosage of 1-20 BV. The results showed that adsorption ratio of D401 resin increased with temperature rising and declined with increasing resin dosage. The resin exhibited distinct selectivity of Cu ²⁺ from berberine-copper system in a broad pH range. The best adsorption condition achieved 39.87 mg/g at pH of 5.0. The adsorption process could be described by Langmuir model and pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Flowing experiments showed that the 1 BV/h was the best condition. The removal of Cu ²⁺ obtained better results under this flow velocity and the adsorption of berberine was not obviously at three flow velocities. The result verified that the D401 resin has a good selectivity for Cu ²⁺ adsorption.