Method for inducing continuous separation of copper ions from copper using UV-light source

Abstract

A method for inducing continuous separation of copper ions from copper using UV-light source, comprising the following steps: (1) cutting apiece of copper into wires or slices for immersing into a vessel containing water; switching on a stirrer for stirring the water continuously and keeping the copper being immersed in the water; (2) turning on the UV-light source for irradiating the copper and the water continuously; appearing a large amount of white precipitate in the water; (3) filtering the solution; detecting the filtered solution, a certain concentration copper ions in the filtered solution are found; adding hydrochloric acid by drops into the unfiltered original solution, the white precipitate is dissolved and copper ions are detected. The invention makes the copper separate out copper ions continuously and can be applied to copper ion disinfection for swimming-pool water, scenic water and cooling water, etc.

Claims

1. A method for inducing continuous separation of copper ions from copper using UV-light source, comprising the steps of: (1) cutting a copper into wires or slices, immersing into a vessel containing water, switching on a stirrer, stirring the water continuously and keeping the copper being immersed in the water; (2) turning on the UV-light source, irradiating the copper and the water continuously until white precipitate appears in the water; and (3) filtering part of original solution with the white precipitate formed in the step (2) to form a filtered solution and adding hydrochloric acid by drops into the other part of original solution formed in the step (2) to form a reaction solution; sampling and analyzing the copper concentration in the filtered solution and the reaction solution with a analytic instrument, respectively, and finding that both the filtered solution and the reaction solution have copper ions.

2. The method for inducing continuous separation of copper ions from copper using UV-light source according to claim 1, wherein, in the Step (1), the water has an electric conductivity of 100-500 s/cm.

3. The method for inducing continuous separation of copper ions from copper using UV-light source according to claim 1, wherein, in the Step (1), the copper is immersed into the water with a distance from the water surface of 10-30 mm.

4. The method for inducing continuous separation of copper ions from copper using UV-light source according to claim 1, wherein, in the Step (2), the wave length of the UV-light source is either 185 nm or 254 nm or both.

5. The method for inducing continuous separation of copper ions from copper using UV-light source according to claim 1, wherein, in the Step (2), the UV-light source is installed outside the water or immersed in the water.

6. The method for inducing continuous separation of copper ions from copper using UV-light source according to claim 5, wherein, in the Step (2), the UV-light source is installed outside the water with a distance from the water surface of 10-20 mm.

7. The method for inducing continuous separation of copper ions from copper using UV-light source according to claim 5, wherein, in the Step (2), the UV-light source is immersed in the water; and the UV-light source is put into a quartz tube with one end sealed.

8. The method for inducing continuous separation of copper ions from copper using UV-light source according to claim 1, wherein, in the Step (2), the time for UV-light source irradiating the water is at least 18 h.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(1) The invention is further described in combination with following embodiments.

Embodiment 1

(2) Evenly distribute the copper wires with a diameter of 0.4 mm and a total irradiated area of about 10 cm.sup.2 into a vessel with a diameter of 90 cm and immerse the copper wires into the water of 1 cm. Use two UV lamps of 8 watt with a wave length of 254 nm to irradiate at a distance of 1 cm away from the water surface (the nearest place of the lamps to the water surface) for 18 h. Then, a large amount of white copper hydroxide precipitate appears in the water; the concentration of the copper ions in the filtered solution is 0.96 mg/L after filtration; drop two drops of hydrochloric acid into the unfiltered original solution; the white precipitate is dissolved and the concentration of the copper ions is 24.98 mg/L.

Embodiment 2

(3) Immerse a UV lamp of 8 watt and apiece of copper into a vessel with 20 L of water; the copper is cut into slices and the UV lamp is with a wave length of 185 nm. The UV lamp is put into a quartz tube with one end sealed and the quartz tube is placed into water. Circulate the water with a pump to make sure that the copper ions generated on the copper surface will not accumulate to form copper hydroxide. Four days later, copper ions of 0.25 ppm are detected in the water.

(4) From the above embodiments, it can be seen that copper ions may be continuously separated out from the copper while being irradiated by UV-light no matter for 18 h or 4 days.

(5) The above displays and describes the basic principle, main features and advantages of the invention. A person skilled in the art shall understand that the invention is not limited to the above embodiments. The above embodiments and the description in the specification only explain the principle of the invention. Under the premise of not departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, any changes and improvements of the invention shall fall within the protection scope of the invention. The protective scope of the invention is defined by the attached claims and the equivalents.