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    Research Article

    Silver Recovery from Laundry Washwater: The Role of Detergent Chemistry
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    † Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 285 Old Westport Road, Dartmouth, Massachusetts 02747, United States
    *E-mail: [email protected]
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    ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering

    Cite this: ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2018, 6, 1, 600–608
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    https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.7b02933
    Published November 21, 2017
    Copyright © 2017 American Chemical Society
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    Abstract

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    The use of silver nanoparticles as an antimicrobial agent on textiles is rising. Ag leaching during laundry and its subsequent discharge in the environment pose ecotoxicological risks. Removing Ag from laundry washwater is therefore an environmental necessity, but its recovery also leads to environmental sustainability. Low Ag concentration, competition from other cations (such as Ca2+, Mg2+, and Na+), and complexity of the detergent matrix make the recovery process challenging. The present study utilizes a thiol-group functionalized ion-exchange resin in a fixed-bed column to remove Ag from laundry washwater and recover it as Ag2S nanoparticles or high-purity powder. The role of each detergent component in affecting Ag speciation and the resin performance has been analyzed. Builders and bleaching agents are reported to negatively impact the resin performance. pH and cocationic species (Ca2+) concentration are reported to be critical parameters for the successful recovery scheme. The work demonstrates a closed-loop sustainable scheme by recycling and reusing the resin and the regenerant solution over 5 cycles.

    Copyright © 2017 American Chemical Society

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    Supporting Information

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    The Supporting Information is available free of charge on the ACS Publications website at DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.7b02933.

    • Details on detergent composition, resin removal and recovery performance under warm and hot thermal conditions, additional information on Ag+ speciation study, notes on Ag0 precipitation in the presence of perborate/TAED; Ag2S precipitate analysis, and reusability results and discussion of the resin and regenerant (PDF)

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    This article is cited by 19 publications.

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    2. Vrushali B. Shevale, Ananta G. Dhodamani, Sagar D. Delekar. Catalytic Reclamation of Silver Present in Photographic Waste Using Magnetically Separable TiO2@CuFe2O4 Nanocomposites and Thereof Its Use in Antibacterial Activity. ACS Omega 2020, 5 (2) , 1098-1108. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.9b03260
    3. Lei Chen, Kexin Hu, Jiaqi Wang, Guangyu Ge, Ran Ma, Yongning Wu, Qinghua He. Benzotrithiophene-based covalent organic frameworks for sensitive fluorescence detection and efficient removal of Ag+ from drinking water. Talanta 2025, 286 , 127455. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.talanta.2024.127455
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    8. Irshad N. Shaikh, M. Mansoor Ahammed. Effect of washing method and detergent type on laundry greywater characteristics. Journal of Water Process Engineering 2024, 66 , 106103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2024.106103
    9. Qiang Wang, Mengling Li, Meng Xi, Mengyuan Zhao, Xiaotong Wang, Xiaoyu Chen, Lin Ding. Recovery of Ag(I) from Wastewater by Adsorption: Status and Challenges. Toxics 2024, 12 (5) , 351. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics12050351
    10. Marina Kholod, Nikita Mokrenko, Alberto Celani, Valentina Puglisi. Choice Modeling of Laundry Detergent Data for Sustainable Consumption. Sustainability 2023, 15 (24) , 16949. https://doi.org/10.3390/su152416949
    11. Guangzheng Wang, Jiaona Hou, Kai Yu, He Xu. Synthesis of AgNPs from waste mobile phone circuit boards using an emulsion liquid membrane method. Journal of Hazardous Materials 2023, 452 , 131251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131251
    12. Zhiyong Zhang, Yue Kuang, Yan Lin, Deyi Wu. A closed-loop sustainable scheme for silver recovery from water by reusable thiol-grafted graphene oxide. Journal of Cleaner Production 2021, 305 , 127146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127146
    13. Islam M. Radwan, Phillip M. Potter, Dionysios D. Dionysiou, Souhail R. Al-Abed. Silver Nanoparticle Interactions with Surfactant-Based Household Surface Cleaners. Environmental Engineering Science 2021, 38 (6) , 481-488. https://doi.org/10.1089/ees.2020.0160
    14. Tabish Nawaz, Sukalyan Sengupta. Wastewater: novel treatment technologies and source for epidemiological studies. 2021, 293-337. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-821057-4.00015-X
    15. Guang-Hui Chen, Yan-Ping He, Fu-Pei Liang, Lei Zhang, Jian Zhang. A green separation process of Ag via a Ti 4 (embonate) 6 cage. Dalton Transactions 2020, 49 (47) , 17194-17199. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0DT03214J
    16. Hanqing Hu, Hongmei Cao, Lili Zhang, Yu Ma, Sijian Wu. Effects of heterogeneous environmental regulation on the control of water pollution discharge. Desalination and Water Treatment 2020, 205 , 208-213. https://doi.org/10.5004/dwt.2020.26349
    17. Joanna Jaros, Claire Wilson, Vivian Y. Shi. Fabric Selection in Atopic Dermatitis: An Evidence-Based Review. American Journal of Clinical Dermatology 2020, 21 (4) , 467-482. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40257-020-00516-0
    18. Keren Trabelsi, Rosaria Ciriminna, Yael Albo, Mario Pagliaro. SilverSil: A New Class of Antibacterial Materials of Broad Scope. ChemistryOpen 2020, 9 (4) , 459-463. https://doi.org/10.1002/open.202000016
    19. Tabish Nawaz, Sukalyan Sengupta, Chen-Lu Yang. Silver recovery as Ag0 nanoparticles from ion-exchange regenerant solution using electrolysis. Journal of Environmental Sciences 2019, 78 , 161-173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2018.09.012
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    ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering

    Cite this: ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2018, 6, 1, 600–608
    Click to copy citationCitation copied!
    https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.7b02933
    Published November 21, 2017
    Copyright © 2017 American Chemical Society
    Request reuse permissions

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