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Recovery of Ammonium by Powder Synthetic Zeolites from Wastewater Effluents: Optimization of the Regeneration Step

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Abstract

Nitrogen recovery and valorization is gaining interest due to the current need for nitrogen removal, so it is of great interest that ammonium-selective sorbents be evaluated. In this study, a zeolitic material synthesized from coal fly ash (Ze–Na) in sodium form as well as its modification to potassium form (Ze–K) were evaluated as sorbent materials for the recovery of ammonium from wastewater effluents. The sorption performance was assessed through three consecutive sorption-desorption cycles reporting opposite behavior in terms of ammonium sorption capacity. Decreasing in the case of Ze–Na and to slightly increase for Ze–K due to alkaline activation of zeolite surface. The maximum sorption capacities obtained were 109 ± 4 mg NH4/g and 33 ± 1 mg NH4/g for Ze–Na and Ze–K, respectively. It is important to point out that in the case of Ze–Na, the maximum sorbent capacity was obtained during the first sorption cycle whereas in the case of Ze–K, it was obtained during the last working cycle due to the alkaline regeneration. Kinetic studies showed that after every regeneration step, the sorption kinetics turn faster as alkaline desorption increased the zeolite-specific surface, thus increasing the size of porous and enhancing the diffusion through the particle. Results obtained indicate that sorption capacity decreased significantly after every working cycle using Ze–Na whereas Ze–K followed the opposite behavior despite its initial lower sorption capacity.

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Acknowledgements

The authors also want to thank X. Querol and O. Font for providing the raw material as well as D. Qiu for her dedication in experimental work.

Funding

This study has been supported by the Waste2Product project (CTM2014-57302-R) financed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the Catalan government (project ref. 2014SGR050).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya-Barcelona-TECH (UPC), C/ Eduard Maristany, 10-14 (Campus Diagonal-Besòs), 08930, Barcelona, Spain

    Xialei You, César Valderrama & José Luis Cortina

  2. Barcelona Research Center for Multiscale Science and Engineering, C/ Eduard Maristany, 10-14 (Campus Diagonal-Besòs), 08930, Barcelona, Spain

    Xialei You, César Valderrama & José Luis Cortina

  3. Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research IDAEA, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Xavier Querol

  4. Water Technology Center, CETaqua, Carretera d’Esplugues 75, 08940, Cornellá de Llobregat, Spain

    José Luis Cortina

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  1. Xialei You
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  2. César Valderrama
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  3. Xavier Querol
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  4. José Luis Cortina
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Correspondence to César Valderrama.

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You, X., Valderrama, C., Querol, X. et al. Recovery of Ammonium by Powder Synthetic Zeolites from Wastewater Effluents: Optimization of the Regeneration Step. Water Air Soil Pollut 228, 396 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-017-3577-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-017-3577-0

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