The Use of Zeolite for Ammonium Uptake

Abstract

In most countries today the removal of ammonium ions from effluents has become almost a necessity. In this work, studies are presented which demonstrate that natural zeolites and namely clinoptilolite may be effectively used for the removal of ammonium ions. The kinetic studies performed, the isotherms of the ion exchange equilibrium and the calculated separation factor show that clinoptilolite is very selective towards ammonium ions. Also, an attempt is made to study the effect of clinoptilolite pretreatment on its ion exchange capacity for the removal of ammonium ions. Experimental results show that repeated pre-treatments sufficiently improve the zeolite's properties, and the structure of clinoptilolite remains unchanged during the loading and the regeneration cycles. It is concluded that the use of zeolite is an attractive and promising method for ammonium removal.