Influence of Cation-Exchanged Copper on the Adsorption of Phenol onto Zeolite Beta.

The aim of this research was to examine the effect of copper cation-exchanged zeolites on the adsorption uptake of organic pollutants. Two beta zeolites with silica-to-alumina ratios of 25:1 and 150:1 were modified by copper cation exchange and their potential for the removal of phenol from aqueous solutions was investigated. It was found that copper loading could be increased by increasing the pH of the exchange to 7. The exchanged copper was found to be relatively resistant to leaching between 5 and 11. An increase in copper loading or silica content resulted in an increase in the adsorption capacity of the zeolite for phenol. Overall, it was found that the adsorption showed best fit to the generalized Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm model. The adsorption process was exothermic and yielded thermodynamic parameters that were contiguous with phenol adsorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]