Comparison of Adsorbents for Ammonia Removal from Mining Wastewater

Authors: Farooq A. Al-Sheikh, Carol Moralejo, Mark Pritzker, William A. Anderson, Ali Elkamel

Abstract:

Ammonia in mining wastewater is a significant problem, and treatment can be especially difficult in cold climates where biological treatment is not feasible. An adsorption process is one of the alternative processes that can be used to reduce ammonia concentrations to acceptable limits, and therefore a LEWATIT resin strongly acidic H+ form ion exchange resin and a Bowie Chabazite Na form AZLB-Na zeolite were tested to assess their effectiveness. For these adsorption tests, two packed bed columns (a mini-column constructed from a 32-cm long x 1-cm diameter piece of glass tubing, and a 60-cm long x 2.5-cm diameter Ace Glass chromatography column) were used containing varying quantities of the adsorbents. A mining wastewater with ammonia concentrations of 22.7 mg/L was fed through the columns at controlled flowrates. In the experimental work, maximum capacities of the LEWATIT ion exchange resin were 0.438, 0.448, and 1.472 mg/g for 3, 6, and 9 g respectively in a mini column and 1.739 mg/g for 141.5 g in a larger Ace column while the capacities for the AZLB-Na zeolite were 0.424, and 0.784 mg/g for 3, and 6 g respectively in the mini column and 1.1636 mg/g for 38.5 g in the Ace column. In the theoretical work, Thomas, Adams-Bohart, and Yoon-Nelson models were constructed to describe a breakthrough curve of the adsorption process and find the constants of the above-mentioned models. In the regeneration tests, 5% hydrochloric acid, HCl (v/v) and 10% sodium hydroxide, NaOH (w/v) were used to regenerate the LEWATIT resin and AZLB-Na zeolite with 44 and 63.8% recovery, respectively. In conclusion, continuous flow adsorption using a LEWATIT ion exchange resin and an AZLB-Na zeolite is efficient when using a co-flow technique for removal of the ammonia from wastewater. Thomas, Adams-Bohart, and Yoon-Nelson models satisfactorily fit the data with R² closer to 1 in all cases.

Keywords: AZLB-Na zeolite, continuous adsorption, LEWATIT resin, models, regeneration.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1132445

References:

[1] Jorgensen, T. C., & Weatherley, L. R. (2003). Ammonia removal from wastewater by ion exchange in the presence of organic contaminants. Water Research, 37(8), 1723–1728.
[2] Gupta, V. K., Sadegh, H., Yari, M., Shahryari Ghoshekandi, R., Maazinejad, B., & Chahardori, M. (2015). Removal of ammonium ions from wastewater A short review in development of efficient methods. Global Journal of Environmental Science and Management, 1(2), 149–158.
[3] Cooney, E. L., Booker, N. A., Shallcross, D. C., & Stevens, G. W. (1999). Ammonia removal from wastewaters using natural Australian zeolite. II. Pilot-scale study using continuous packed column process. Separation Science and Technology, 34(14), 2741-2760.
[4] Balci, S., & Dinçel, Y. (2002). Ammonium ion adsorption with sepiolite: use of transient uptake method. Chemical Engineering and Processing: Process Intensification, 41(1), 79-85.
[5] Park, J. B., Lee, S. H., Lee, J. W., & Lee, C. Y. (2002). Lab scale experiments for permeable reactive barriers against contaminated groundwater with ammonium and heavy metals using clinoptilolite (01-29B). Journal of Hazardous Materials, 95(1), 65-79.
[6] Sarioglu, M. (2005). Removal of ammonium from municipal wastewater using natural Turkish (Dogantepe) zeolite. Separation and purification technology, 41(1), 1-11.
[7] Sprynskyy, M., Lebedynets, M., Terzyk, A. P., Kowalczyk, P., Namieśnik, J., & Buszewski, B. (2005). Ammonium sorption from aqueous solutions by the natural zeolite Transcarpathian clinoptilolite studied under dynamic conditions. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 284(2), 408-415.
[8] Sprynskyy, M., Lebedynets, M., Zbytniewski, R., Namieśnik, J., & Buszewski, B. (2005). Ammonium removal from aqueous solution by natural zeolite, Transcarpathian mordenite, kinetics, equilibrium and column tests. Separation and Purification Technology, 46(3), 155-160.
[9] Wang, Y., Kmiya, Y., & Okuhara, T. (2007). Removal of low-concentration ammonia in water by ion-exchange using Na-mordenite. Water research, 41(2), 269-276.
[10] St. CloudTM zeolites Website. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.stcloudmining.com/st-cloud-zeolite.html
[11] Sand, L. B., & Mumpton, F. A. (1978). Natural zeolites: occurrence, properties, and use (No. CONF-760626-(Exc.)). Pergamon Press, Inc., Elmsford, NY.
[12] Bowell, R. J. (1994). Natural zeolites. Applied Geochemistry, 9(3), 351.
[13] Hedström, A. (2001). Ion exchange of ammonium in zeolites: a literature review. Journal of environmental engineering, 127(8), 673-681.
[14] Lanxess energizing chemistry Website. (2016). Retrieved from http://lpt.lanxess.com/en/products-lpt/product-groups/ion-exchange-resins/
[15] Jorgensen, T. C., & Weatherley, L. R. (2006). Continuous removal of ammonium ion by ion exchange in the presence of organic compounds in packed columns. Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, 81(7), 1151-1158.
[16] Lin, S. H., & Wu, C. L. (1996). Ammonia removal from aqueous solution by ion exchange. Industrial & engineering chemistry research, 35(2), 553-558.
[17] Yoshida, H., & Kataoka, T. (1987). Adsorption of amines and ammonia on H+-form ion exchanger. Chemical engineering science, 42(7), 1805-1814.
[18] Abrams, I. M., & Millar, J. R. (1997). A history of the origin and development of macroporous ion-exchange resins. Reactive and Functional Polymers, 35(1-2), 7-22.
[19] Ace Glass Incorporated Website. (2017). Retrieved from http://www.aceglass.com/mobile/literature.php
[20] Stenner Pumps Website. (2017). Retrieved from http://stenner.com/products/pumps/single-head-adjustable-output#boxtab2
[21] Thomas, H. C. (1944). Heterogeneous ion exchange in a flowing system. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 66(10), 1664-1666.
[22] Bohart, G. S., & Adams, E. Q. (1920). Some aspects of the behavior of charcoal with respect to chlorine. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 42(3), 523-544.
[23] Yoon, Y. H., & Nelson, J. H. (1984). Application of gas adsorption kinetics I. A theoretical model for respirator cartridge service life. The American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal, 45(8), 509-516.
[24] Yoon, Y. H., & Nelson, J. H. (1984). Application of gas adsorption kinetics—II. A theoretical model for respirator cartridge service life and its practical applications. The American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal, 45(8), 517-524.