Abstract
This study synthesized zeolite 4A, and hierarchical composite structure consisting of zeolite 4A- carbon were successfully prepared. Hydrothermal method was used to grow a layer of zeolite 4A over porous carbon surfaces to enhance mass transfer and increase surface area of zeolite. The products then were used to remove radioactive cesium137Cs from liquid wastewater. Iraqi dates leaves midribs (DM) were used as locally available agricultural waste to prepare low- cost porous carbon, using carbonization method in tubular furnace at 900C for two hours. Hierarchical porous structures including zeolite are prepared by mechanically activating the carbon surface via Ultrasonicating nanoparticles suspension of ground zeolite type 4A.For preparing nanoparticles suspension, commercial zeolite has been milled using 0.3-0.4 mm diameter glass balls as grinding media. Nanoparticles of zeolite 4A acting as seeding (nucleation centers) increase the crystallization of amorphous aluminosilica gel on modification carbon surface. The products of the syntheses zeolite 4A and the hierarchal composite materials (DMZ) were characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Nitrogen sorption (BET) and Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX) to check the morphology, structure, surface area, and the chemical composition respectively. The products were used to treat radioactive wastewater contaminated with radioactive cesium 137Cs collected from destroyed building of the Radiochemistry Laboratories (RCL) in AL-Tuwaitha Nuclear Site. The activity concentration for the contamination water pre and after the treatment were measured using gamma spectroscopy system supplied with a high purity germanium detector (HPGe) with 60% relative efficiency. The results showed that the radioactivity concentration after the treatment process decreased significantly from 4800 Bq/L to 186 and Bq/L,121 Bq/L using 0.045 gm from synthesized zeolite 4A and DMZ respectively.
Highlights
Zeolite is among the most important classes of materials with various technical applications in the heterogeneous catalysts chemical industry, as sorbents or ion-exchangers [1]
From the X-ray diffraction patterns, it can be seen that the prepared zeolite has a good crystallinity and nearly has the same crystalline structure as the standard type
The comparison between The X-ray peaks from heretically composite sample with that from Synthesis zeolite 4A sample, Fig.3 shows that the presence of carbon powder as scaffold does not affect the preparation process of zeolite
Summary
Zeolite is among the most important classes of materials with various technical applications in the heterogeneous catalysts chemical industry, as sorbents or ion-exchangers [1]. Three-dimension aluminosilicates of the alkali (primarily potassium and sodium) and alkaline earth (mainly calcium) metals. Zeolite's crystalline structures are based on 3(SiAl)O4 tetrahedra frameworks with four (O2) atoms connected to the nerst tetrahedral[2]. Much of the commercial success of zeol ites in many applications such as catalyst and i on exchange can be directly attributed to the pr esence of microprous in their structure. The major drawback in many industrial application using zeolite can be represented by: diffusion restrictions due to blocked access and slow mass transport to and from active sites within the microprous [4,5]
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