Recovery of the heavy elements by NaY AND NaZSM-5 sorbant materials

摘要

Porous sorbants as zeolites have several applications in different fields: industrial gas purification, catalysis, transformation hydrocarbures prosesses and exchange ions. The high capacity to exchange their cautions with those of aqueous solutions was known (1). Since the accession of synthetic zeolites, these silicates have invaded the market and the first industrial applications were in exchange field. Studies at Battelle Northwest in Richland, Washington have shown that zeolites may be used in treatment of radioactive wastes (2). The used method for storing the isotopes is based on selective removal by ion exchange. Clinoptilolite, zeolite (modernite), NaA, and AW-500 have been used. In this context, the present work deals with the recovery of heavy metals like lead and uranium using some microporous materials. The obtained results show that NaY faujasite and NaZSM-5 of the FAU- and MFI-type structure respectively are very effective in removing these elements from waste water. (Atomindex citation 28:044721)