Faujasite-phillipsite tuff (FAU) from Jabal Hannoun area was evaluated in ammonium removal from wastewater compared with chabazite-phillipsite tuff (CHA) from Tell Rimah area. Both samples are characterized by good physical and chemical properties, which enable them to be used as ion exchangers under column operation condition. In the presence of considerable concentration of competing ions such as Na~+, Ca~(+2), K~+ and Mg~(+2) under conditions of different ammonium concentrations, the FAU exhibits successful performance in removing NH_4~+ from wastewater compared with the efficiency of CHA for 50 and 25 mg NH_4~+/l concentration. The study indicates that the efficiency of the FAU is about 2.2 to 2.0 times greater than CHA. Unlike the selectivity series of pure natural phillipsite and synthetic faujasite reported in the literature, FAU selectivity series is: Mg~(+2)>K~+>Ca~(+2)>NH_4~+. This study remarks that regeneration of the FAU samples with Na using column operation is far more efficient than Na-loading by soaking in concentrated NaCl solution. In this regard, a considerable enhancement in the performance of regenerated FAU samples exceeds 100% is noted compared with their performance in the other experiments.
展开▼
