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Effective Removal of Ammonia from Water Using Pre-treated Clinoptilolite Zeolite-A Detailed Study

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Abstract

Ammonia in the form of ammonium ions is malignant and could reduce the dissolved oxygen in water bodies and significantly threaten aquatic life. The ammonium ion is the major pollutant in water generated from industrial waste, pesticides, and fertilizers. Natural clinoptilolite is a promising adsorbent for eliminating ammonia from aquatic resources. This research aims to evaluate the efficiency of ca-form natural clinoptilolite zeolite in ammonia removal conditioned by simple washing and drying process. The effects of appropriate parameters, such as contact time, pH, zeolite dosage, and initial ammonia concentration, were investigated in the batch study. Clinoptilolite’s surface morphology, functional groups, and structure were studied by scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The particle size and surface charge were determined using clinoptilolite’s zeta potential. The surface area of the material was analyzed using Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) plot and found to be 8.469 m2/g. Results show that the removal efficiency of clinoptilolite zeolite in ammonia ions at batch study is 76.48%. The adsorption kinetics and isotherms are best described by the pseudo-second-order and Freundlich models, respectively, and the process was endothermic.

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All data generated and analyzed during this study are included in this article, and supplementary files will be availed upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Director NPL for providing permission to publish this work. The authors would like to express their appreciation and thanks to the Chemical and Food Division (BND), CSIR- National Physical Laboratory. The authors, Mr. Vikas Yadav and Mr. Lalit Kumar are thankful to CSIR for providing fellowship and AcSIR to carry out the research for the Ph.D. course.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indian Reference Materials BND Division, CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K. S. Krishnan Marg, New Delhi, 110012, India

    Vikas Yadav, Lalit Kumar, Neha Saini, Meenakshi Yadav, Nahar Singh & Ezhilselvi Varathan

  2. Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, 201002, India

    Vikas Yadav, Lalit Kumar, Neha Saini & Meenakshi Yadav

  3. Department of Chemistry, B S Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology Vandalur, Chennai, 600 048, India

    Vajjiravel Murugasen

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  1. Vikas Yadav
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Contributions

Vikas Yadav: Conceptualization, literature survey, experiment, data analysis, manuscript writing.

Lalit Kumar: Conceptualization, experimentation, data analysis.

Neha: Data interpretation, manuscript review.

Meenakshi: Data interpretation, manuscript review.

Nahar Singh: Manuscript review and editing.

Vajjiravel Murugasen: Manuscript review and editing.

V. Ezhilselvi: Conceptualization, formulation of the idea, manuscript review, and editing.

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Correspondence to Ezhilselvi Varathan.

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Yadav, V., Kumar, L., Saini, N. et al. Effective Removal of Ammonia from Water Using Pre-treated Clinoptilolite Zeolite-A Detailed Study. Water Air Soil Pollut 234, 435 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-023-06469-4

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