Abstract: Fe-C micro-electrolysis was applied to perform pretreatment of berberine pharmaceutical wastewater containing high concentration of Cu²⁺. The effects of reaction time, iron/carbon dosages and initial pH on the pretreatment results were investigated by single factor experiments, and the process of copper recovery was designed. The results showed that while treating the wastewater with initial concentration of Cu²⁺ 20 000 mg/L and berberine content of 1 700-1 900 mg/L, the berberine removal efficiency was above 70% and copper removal efficiency reached 99.9% with less than 20 mg/L Cu²⁺ remaining in the effluent and 18-19 kilograms of copper could be recovered by treatment one ton of such wastewater, under the optimized conditions of pH 2.0-3.0, reaction time 90min and the dosages of iron and carbon 25 and 30 g/L, respectively. The process was easily controlled and effective. It has laid foundation for larger scale treatment of berberine wastewater containing high concentration of Cu²⁺.

Key words: Fe-C micro-electrolysis, copper-containing wastewater, berberine, pretreatment