Removal of Ni (Ii)‎ and Cd (Ii)‎ ions from aqueous solutions by adsorption on to synthetic zeolite

Abstract EN

In this study, the removal of Ni (II) and Cd (II) ions from aqueous solutions using the adsorption process onto synthetic Zeolite has been investigated as a function of initial metal concentration, contact time, pH and temperature.

In order to find out the effect of temperature on adsorption, the experiments were conducted at 20, 30, 40, 50 °C and 15, 30, 50 °C for Ni (II) and Cd (II) respectively.

Kinetics data show that at higher temperatures, the rate of adsorption on the synthetic Zeolite is much higher compared to that on the lower temperatures.

The optimum pH for Ni (II) and Cd (II) removal is found out to be 5.5 and 6 respectively.

The batch method has been employed using initial metal concentrations in solution ranging from 25 to 100 mg / l for Ni (II) and from 10 to 25 for Cd (II) at optimum pH.

An Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer was used for measuring the heavy metal concentrations before and after adsorption.

Langmuir, Freundlich, models were applied to adsorption equilibrium data to find the best amongst these models.

This study has demonstrated that Zeolite was capable to remove 90 % of nickel and cadmium from solution of different concentrations.

This implies that Zeolite is an important in the removal process.

These capabilities of Zeolite could lead to development of a viable and cost effective technology for removal of these pollutants from wastewater for countries like Iraq.