we use CuO for waste water treatment of sugar industry , as after sedimentation the sludge and catalyst are mixed up and settle down. Now suggested me easy way to recover the CuO from sludge.
(1) It depend on the size. First confirm the size using particle size analyzer. To recover catalyst use filter media of lower size than the CuO particle size.
(2) Evaporate out your test wastewater sample and collect the residue. Probably you will get precipitate of some other compound. That need to be confirmed by either of the technique EDX, XPS, XRD etc.