Synthetic nax zeolite as a very efficient heavy metals sorbent in batch and dynamic conditions

Abstract

The heavy metals removal efficiency of synthetic NaX zeolite has been studied. The sorbent was fully characterized by nitrogen sorption, X-ray diffraction, FT-IR and scanning electron microscopy. The batch sorption tests were performed taking into consideration several factors such as m/V ratio, contact time, pH and initial metal ions concentration. The maximum sorption capacities were 3.45, 3.86 and 4 mmol g−1 for Pb2+, Cd2+ and Cu2+, respectively. Fixed-bed experiments were carried out to test the applicability of NaX zeolite as well as column regeneration experiments.