Eva Chmielewská

Natural zeolite—a versatile commodity—some retrospectives in water cleanup processes

Abstract The objective of this paper is to review some of the practical applications of clinoptilolite-rich tuff, deposited at the Eastern Slovakian repository Nižný Hrabovec, which has been used for inland water treatment and purification processes in the last 25 years. Since this field is wide, this overview is limited and highlighting only those water purification and treatment processes, which have been realized in industrial scale up or pilot applications. The zeolite ion exchange pilot installation with a hydraulic loading rate of 900 L/h was situated at the field experimental facility of Water Research Institute in Vajnory, the closed vicinity of Bratislava, during the autumn of 1986. Surface water purification by means of chemical coagulation and flocculation supported by the powdered natural zeolite was carried out in 1984 to save the drinking water reservoir (upper part of Ondava river) settled by about 10,000 equivalent inhabitants. Ammonia removal from tannery wastewater using the clinoptiloli...

BATCH-WISE ADSORPTION, SAXS AND MICROSCOPIC STUDIES OF ZEOLITE PELLETIZED WITH BIOPOLYMERIC ALGINATE

Abstract - Removal of nitrates, sulfate and Zn(II) ions from aqueous solutions through adsorption onto biopolymeric alginate/clinoptilolite-rich tuff pellets was studied by using an equilibrium batch technique. The idea of this approach of biosorbent fabrication is to promote the native zeolite adsorption performance and thus to prepare more efficient amphoteric tailor-made products for specific environmental targets. A flexible component, i.e., alginate biopolymer, and a rigid component (pulverized) zeolite were crosslinked using Fe(III) and Ca(II) chlorides, additively. The extent of adsorption was found to be considerably higher than with the other mostly natural adsorbents examined towards similar pollutants. The equilibrium adsorption data for the above pollutants were satisfactorily fitted to Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms, respectively. According to the linscale SAXS pattern, there was a strong background visible, which may indicate the presence of a considerable amount of biopolymeric phase in the composite samples analysed. Scanning Tunneling, Electron and Atomic Force Microscopies helped visualize their surface texture and morphology.

Zeolitic adsorption in course of pollutants mitigation and environmental control

The review focuses on the adsorption and selectivity properties of the inland natural zeolites clinoptilolite and mordenite towards a broad spectrum of environmental pollutants incl. radioactive and compare some of them partially to selected foreign samples. A series of elution experiments into a broad spectrum of individual isomolar metal solutions by means of NH4+—exchanged clinoptilolite—and mordenite-rich tuffs was done to prove the affinity sequence of both minerals untill the steady-state approaching. Among the all recorded breakthrough profiles onto mordente-rich tuff the ammonium exchanged tuff yielded the best uptake performance towards Cs. Three various clinoptilolite-rich tuff samples (Hungarian, American and Slovakian) were compared to each other in order to evaluate the iodide removal in dynamic regime by using the Ag exchanged tuff.

Surface modifications of natural clinoptilolite-dominated zeolite for phenolic pollutant mitigation

A novel carbonized clinoptilolite-rich tuff was studied for phenol removal from water. Zeolite sample carbonization was accomplished in a plasmachemical reactor (pyrolytic chamber) using several types of waste, here specifically waste vegetable residues and starch. Phenol adsorption experiments were performed in the batch system. An industrial activated charcoal and a clinoptilolite-rich tuff hydrofobized with an organic ammonium base were used as the related materials to compare phenol removal efficiency.

Safe trapping of Cs in heat-treated zeolite matrices. Part 2

Abstract Safe trapping of cesium was investigated by heat-treating at various temperatures a Slovakian clinoptilolite-rich tuff sample, previously subjected to exhaustive exchange with Cs + . The influence of temperature on the process effectiveness was studied and the mechanism of Cs + immobilization explained. Treating the Cs-exchanged material, at 1000°C results in zeolite breakdown and the formation of an amorphous, likely glassy, phase, which safely encapsulates the polluting cation, as it has been demonstrated by standard leaching tests. This study indicates that clinoptilolite-rich tuff is a good candidate for immobilization of cesium, taken up by ion exchange.

Supplementary research of clinoptilolite-rich tuff composites after adsorption trials using the XPS technique

The paper deals with fabrication of carbonized and hydrophobized clinoptilolite-rich tuff using organic carbon rich substances, here particularly starch and waste vegetable residues, which were pyrolytically combusted and covered the external zeolite surface. Hydrophobization of the zeolite external surface was accomplished by octadecylammonium surfactant. Both surface modified clinoptilolite-rich tuffs were tested and compared with each other with regard to removal of organic (phenol) and inorganic (chromate, arsenate) pollutants from aqueous solutions. These elaborated composites with surface adsorbed pollutant species were analysed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).

Environmental Zeolites and Aqueous Media: Examples of Practical Solutions

Environmental zeolites and aqueous media: examples of practical solution Edited by Eva Chmielewska, Bentham Science Publishers, Sharjah, 2014 Antonis A. Zorpas To cite this article: Antonis A. Zorpas (2016) Environmental zeolites and aqueous media: examples of practical solution Edited by Eva Chmielewska, Bentham Science Publishers, Sharjah, 2014, Desalination and Water Treatment, 57:15, (iv)-(vi), DOI: 10.1080/19443994.2015.1135525 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19443994.2015.1135525

Adsorption of Al(III), Sb(III), chromate and halides onto some natural versus commercial materials

Commercial Fe-oxihydroxide (GEH) and clinoptilolite-rich tuff proved to have a quite low aluminum uptake in current research, however montmorillonite-rich bentonite’s maximum capacity towards aluminum was approximately 4-times higher. Also, the best chromate adsorption was observed on montmorillonite-rich bentonite. Concerning halides uptake on octadecylammonium (ODA)—modified zeolite, large and therefore less hydrated anions with better fitting energetic configurations, as e.g. iodide, were on ODA-clinoptilolite-rich tuff preferred. Chemically pretreated FeO(OH) clinoptilolite-rich tuff with the GEH product showed identical performance towards Sb-species.

A natural ion exchange medium for radioactive59Fe fallout abatement

The paper presents a fundamental study of adsorption equilibria for aqueous solutions of iron(III) chloride with natural and Na+-converted indigeneous and Chinese clinoptilolites. Adsorption isotherms for systems studied at ambient as well as elevated temperatures were measured. In order to evaluate the process enthalpy a plot of logK versus 1/T was drawn.

Natural Resources and Waste Products in Aquatic Media Remediation and Diclofenac Uptake

Environmental requirements are becoming of great importance in today ́s society since there is an increased interest in the industrial use of renewable resources. For this reason, the objective of the work presented was to examine and compare several natural, commercial or even waste products in diclofenac uptake, using synthetic water solutions in laboratory measurements. Diclofenac belongs to a class of drugs that provides analgesic, antipyretic and anti-inflammatory effects. To date, more than 200 different pharmaceuticals alone have been reported in river waters globally. According to the monitoring provided by the national water authorities and researchers, consumption of pharmaceuticals in the Czech and Slovak Republics are among the highest in Europe. According to our research, the results of the most effective adsorbents in diclofenac uptake from aqueous solutions were products in the following order: Chezacarb, with a capacity nearly 300 mg/g, Peatsorb CB18, with a capacity close to 250 mg/g, the German Silcarbon and the commercial product KlinoCarb, from the company Zeocem, with a capacity of ca. 200 mg/g. The domestic product KlinoCarb, which proved to have sufficiently high adsorption towards diclofenac, including a favourable price, was characterized by H-C CP MAS NMR, Raman spectroscopy, XRD, and moreover, as with the other materials studied, by the SEM and S(BET) methods. A R T I C L E H I S T O R Y Received: April 26, 2018 Revised: May 29, 2018 Accepted: June 14, 2018 DOI: 10.2174/2213346105666180622125344