Mabel Vaca Mier

HEAVY METAL REMOVAL WITH MEXICAN CLINOPTILOLITE: MULTI-COMPONENT IONIC EXCHANGE

This paper describes the interactions of Pb(II), Cd(II), and Cr(VI) competing for ion-exchange sites in naturally occurring clinoptilolite. Dissolved Pb and Cd were effectively removed within 18 h in batch reactors, with higher removal efficiencies (> 95%) in the acidic pH range. The presence of Cr(VI), which can interact with these metals to form anionic complexes, significantly diminished the Pb and Cd removal efficiencies. A decrease in the efficiency of clinoptilolite to remove Pb was also observed in the high (> or = 10) pH range. This was attributed to the formation of anionic hydroxo-complexes with little affinity for cationic ion exchange sites. Pb outcompeted Cd for ion exchange sites in a flow-through column packed with clinoptilolite (contact time = 10 s). The preferential removal of Pb in column, but not in batch reactors, reflects that competitive retention can be affected by contact time because diffusion kinetics may influence the removal efficiency to a greater extent than equilibrium partitioning. Phenol, which was tested as a representative organic co-contaminant, slightly hindered heavy metal removal in batch reactors. This was attributed to the formation of organometallic complexes that cannot penetrate the zeolite exchange channels. Altogether, these results show that natural zeolites hold great potential to remove cationic heavy metal species from industrial wastewater. Nevertheless, process efficiency can be hindered by the presence of ligands that form complexes with reduced accessibility and/or affinity for ion exchange.

Nitrogen and potassium variation on contaminant removal for a vertical subsurface flow lab scale constructed wetland.

Lab scale constructed wetlands were used to evaluate organic load removal efficiency. Bioreactors were fed with synthetic wastewater (SW) with varying concentrations of nitrogen and potassium. Reactors were planted with species Phragmites australis. Fed theoretic COD was adjusted to 240.0mg-O(2)L(-1), nitrogen levels were 10 and 40 mg-NL(-1) (ammonium sulfate), potassium levels were 5 and 31 mg-KL(-1) (potassium monobasic phosphate). The higher biomass yield, for 0.5 and 0.775 N:K ratios, was related with higher organic load removal. The ratio N:K showed significant differences for organic load abatement, when 1:0.5 and 1:0.775 N:K ratios were applied, 96.8% efficiency was obtained, whereas N:K ratio of 1:0.125 had efficiency of 92.1% and N:K ratio of 1:3.1 showed an efficiency of 90.5%. For planted bioreactor E(H) decreased in 162.7 mV from sample port to 5 cm down to 35 cm depth, while for the bioreactor without plant showed an E(H) decrement of only 17.7 mV.

Exploration of the Ability of Coleus blumei to Accumulate Aluminum

In this study, the capacity of an ornamental species (Coleus blumei) to extract and accumulate aluminum was evaluated. The analyzed parameters were amount of soluble aluminum, radical growth, tolerance rate, bioaccumulation factor, and tissues aluminum concentration. The main limiting factor for aluminum accumulation is the availability of the metal. However, Coleus blumei can grow and accumulate up to 1445.7 mg kg−1 of aluminum dry base. This plant can play an important role in the treatment of polluted water with metals, since it can grow in conditions with a pH of around 4.8. The aluminum tolerance rate showed for this plant ranged between 18.8% and 25%. Therefore, this species behaves as a non-accumulator, even though the bioaccumulation factor was 3098.5 L kg−1.