Use of Natural Clinoptilolite to Improve Water Quality: Sorption and Selectivity Studies of Lead(II), Copper(II), Zinc(II), and Nickel(II)

Abstract

Natural clinoptilolite can be used as an ion exchanger for removal of heavy metals and treatment of environmental pollution because of its desirable characteristics of high ion exchange selectivity and resistance to different media.In this work, the potential of natural clinoptilolite from Gördes mines (West Anatolia, Turkey) for the uptake of lead(II), nickel(II), copper(II), and zinc(II), from their single and mixed ion solutions, was evaluated using the batch method. The mineralogical and chemical properties of the sorption material were carried out by X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluoremetry, scanning electron microscopy, and wet analysis.Contact time, initial solution pH, solid-to-liquid ratio, and initial metal cation concentration were determined as single ion sorption parameters. The silicon/aluminum ratio and the theoretical and equivalent exchange capacities, both in single and mixed solutions, were established. Corresponding adsorption constants and distribution coefficients have been found. Water Environ. Res., 79, 329 (2007).

Regeneration of natural zeolite polluted by lead and zinc in wastewater treatment systems

“…2. Mineral performance was higher for Pb(II) compared to Zn(II) in all liquid media, which also agrees with previous findings [5,8,9,29]. Table 3 compares the amount of lead and zinc adsorbed on zeolite in this work with the adsorption capacities of minerals (i.e.…”

“…Table 3 compares the amount of lead and zinc adsorbed on zeolite in this work with the adsorption capacities of minerals (i.e. zeolite, vermiculite, bentonite and kaolinite) reported in the literature for lead and zinc removal [5,[7][8][9][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46]. The zeolite used in the present study exhibited higher [33,37,42,46] or comparable [38,40] performance for Pb(II) and Zn(II) removal compared to that of several cases reported in the literature.…”

“…Cincotti et al [8] found that the adsorption capacity of Sardinian natural zeolite was 55.9-248.6 mg/g for lead and 6.5 mg/g for zinc. Oter and Akcay [9] concluded that Turkish clinoptilolite had an adsorption capacity of 47.5-151.3 mg/g for lead and 7.1-16.4 mg/g for zinc. The findings of the above studies reveal that natural zeolite is an effective adsorbent for Zn(II) and Pb(II) uptake.…”

Equilibrium ion exchange studies of Ni2+ on homoionic forms of clinoptilolite

“…11,12 The effect of converting the zeolite initially to a homoionic form for the removal of heavy metal ions from wastewater has been studied by many authors. [13][14][15][16][17][18][19] These authors pointed out that zeolite in homoionic forms exhibits a significantly increased ability to remove heavy metals from wastewater. NaCl is most often used as the pretreatment agent.…”

Zeolites versus Lead Toxicity

“…In order to meet increasingly stringent Environmental Quality Criteria (EQC) clinoptilolites are widely applied for heavy metals removing from polluted streams and wastewater [4,19,[32][33][34][35][36][37] and for the elimination of gas pollutants in confinement facilities [7,10]. Besides, this mineral has widespread applications in agriculture [1,2].…”