The paper presents an impact of the metallurgical wastes dumping site on the following parts of the environment: air, soil and surface waters. Some of the methods used to prevent wastes interactions were showed. The results of the metallurgical wastes leachate samples research, in which toxic metal ions have been found, are presented results of examinations performed on water extracts derived from two types of metallurgical wastes were given. The chemical analysis of water extracts indicate exceeded concentration of toxic metals, such as: lead, arsenic, barium and others. Preliminary results of some metals elimination from the water extracts with PUROLITE ion-exchangers were also presented. The utilised acidous cationit with Na+ groups exchanges the Ba2+ ions in almost 90%, similar to S 930 ionit with chelating groups (Table 5 and 7). Whereas the anionit with hydroxyl groups removes the arsenic ions(V) from the solution with the 60% efficacy (Table 7).

At present, industrial development is increasing pollution of soils, air and natural waters. These

pollutants have a negative effect on the health and life of living organisms. Metals which interfere with

the natural biological balance and inhibit self-cleaning processes in water bodies have particularly

toxic effects. Cobalt, which gets into the environment from industrial sewage from electrochemical

plants and the metallurgical industry, also belong to this group. This is also relatively rare and precious

element, so it is important to look for additional sources of its recovery. Chemical and physicochemical

methods such as: precipitation, extraction, membrane processes – nanofiltration, reverse

osmosis, sorption and ion exchange are used to recover cobalt. The choice of method depends on: the

kind and composition of wastewaters as well as on form and concentration of the pollutants.

Ion exchange resins produced by Purolite which were used to remove cobalt ions from solutions

with concentrations corresponding to its contents in galvanic wastewater was the subject of the study.

It has been shown that the C 160 ion exchange resin has the best the sorption properties for Co2+ ions

(54.7 mg/g). In case of this ion exchange resin, after sorption process carried out in one 50 minute cycle,

cobalt concentration decreased from about 30 g/L to about 9 g/L. The values of the sorption capacity

do not depend on the method of introducing the solution into an ion exchange column (pouring or dropping).

E ach of the tested ion exchange resins is characterized by a high degree of cobalt concentration

after regeneration using mineral acids, which can be advantageous in selecting the recovery method for

this metal.

The paper presents results of research on cobalt and nickel ions removal from monocomponent solutions

using Purolite ion exchange resins. It has been shown that C 160 ion exchange resin has the best

sorption properties for both ions (Qe – 72.5 mg Co/g and 88.2 mg Ni/g). Regeneration process of this

ion exchanger has high efficiency, achieving about 93% for cobalt ions and about 84% in case of nickel

ions. It has been shown that the use of ion exchange method with suitable ion exchange resins guarantees

effective removal of cobalt and nickel ions from solutions with very high concentrations corresponding

to contents of these metals in industrial wastewaters (e.g. galvanic). In case of C 160 ion exchange resin,

after the sorption process is carried out in one 50 minute cycle, the cobalt concentration decreased from

about 30 000 mg/L to about 9 500 mg/L (approx. 68%), whereas nickel concentration reached about

6 300 mg/L (approx. 79%). Studied chelating resins don’t have such high sorption capacities. In their

case, it is required to convert cobalt and nickel ions into complex forms. The kinetics of studied processes

were described by pseudo-second order equations.