ELIMINATION OF TOXIC ELEMENTS BY NATURAL AND SYNTHETIC ADSORBENTS

Abstract

<p>The adsorption of Zn(II) and Cu(II) onto siderite (S) and kaolin (K) and adsorption of As(V) onto bentonite (B) was studied. The chemical modification – precipitation of MnO2 on the kaolin (KM) and siderite (SM) surface was used to improve the adsorption properties of natural materials for their application in columns. In the batch tests the higher adsorption capacity was observed for the KM sample. The binary solution of Zn(II)/Cu(II) was percolated through the columns filled with quartz sand (QS) as a bearer of KM or SM. The effect of toxic elements removal reached in average 90 % for both columns.</p><p>The adsorption of As(V) onto natural bentonite (B) and synthetic magnetic particles (MP) was studied by batch as well as column tests. Whereas the B sample did not perform good adsorption properties in batch test, in dynamic conditions its effect was comparable with MP. The effect of As(V) removal was studied in a number of series with different materials beddings and cycles repetitions. The results showed that the most effective was the column filled with QS+B+MP containing more coarse-grained fraction of bentonite. In the second cycle its removal effect reached 60 % of As(V) elimination from the solution.</p>