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AMMONIUM REMOVAL FROM SYNTHETIC SOLUTIONS USING AN ACTIVATED ZEOLITE IN FIXED-BED COLUMN

Emilia Neag

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the capacity of an activated zeolite for ammonium removal in fixed-bed column. The influence of process parameters, such as activated natural zeolite quantity (1 - 6 g) and ammonium initial concentration (10 - 70 mg/L) was investigated. The experimental results were analyzed using the most common sorption kinetic models, such as Thomas, Adam-Bohart, as well Clark, by linear regression analysis in order to characterize the removal process. The obtained values showed the following sorption behavior: as the quantity of activated zeolite increased, the sorption capacity slowly decreased, while with an increase of the initial concentration, the sorption capacity increased rapidly. The ammonium sorption onto activated zeolite was very fast in the first 21 minutes, and then the ammonium concentration at the column outlet was rapidly increasing at a flow rate of 1.4 mL/min. In the studied range of zeolite quantity, the maximum sorption capacity of 8.58 mg/g was obtained at 2 g activated zeolite at an inlet concentration of 50 mg/L NH4+ and 1.4 ml/min flow rate. In the studied range of concentration, the maximum sorption capacity of 11.21 mg/g was obtained at 70 mg/L ammonium initial concentration. The obtained results will be used to design a wastewater filter using activated zeolite as filling material. The present study provides valuable information for further work in waste treatment and management and advanced recycling technologies domain.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgem2019/5.2/s20.008

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