Removal of uranium ions from synthetic wastewater using ZnO/Na-clinoptilolite nanocomposites

Abstract

Abstract Uranium is one of the heavy metals that is found in industrial wastewater and is very toxic for human and environment. In this work, natural clinoptilolite is used as a low-cost adsorbent for uranium removal from aqueous solutions. The sodium form of clinoptilolite and ZnO/Na-clinoptilolite nanocomposite were prepared. The sample sorption capacities for uranium removal from simulated drinking water in the presence of other anions and cations were investigated. Natural zeolite and its modified forms were characterized by XRD, XRF, FTIR, TEM and BET. Batch experiments were used to determine the best adsorption conditions. The effects of various parameters such as contact time, pH, initial uranium concentration, temperature and mass sorbent on the removal efficiency of uranium ions were studied. The equilibration was attained after 2 and 6 h for the Na-clinoptilolite and ZnO/Na-clinoptilolite nanocomposite, respectively. Both adsorbents showed relatively fast adsorption. Effective removal of uranium was demonstrated at pH values of 4–8 for both forms of zeolite. Temperature had no significant effect on adsorption. The maximum removal efficiency of uranium by the ZnO/Na-clinoptilolite nanocomposite in pH=7.2 and room temperature was 98.55%. Langmuir, Freundlich and Sips models were used for describing the equilibrium isotherms for uranium uptake. The Sips model corresponded well with the experimental data. The thermodynamic parameters, such as ΔG°, ΔH° and ΔS°, have been calculated and interpreted. The pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order models were applied to describe the kinetic data. The pseudo-second order kinetic model had excellent kinetic data fitting (R2=1).