Treatments of reverse osmosis concentrate using natural zeolites

Abstract

The purpose of the current study is to experimentally investigate the reduction of sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) from a concentrated stream of reversed osmosis (RO) using natural zeolites. In order to reduce the salinity of solution, experiments were carried out using zeolites of varying concentration, pretreatment of adsorbents, and the addition of Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). The results show that both zeolites can be used in an RO brine treatment; however, Rhyolitic tuff is more effective than clinoptilolite for the reduction of water salinity. The experiments show that Rhyolitic tuff decreases salinity of RO concentrate to nearly one - third of the initial value. Statistical analyses show that the effect of zeolite concentration is negligible. Furthermore, the addition of EDTA and pretreatment of zeolite increase the SAR values.