Study the Efficiency of Clinoptilolite Zeolite for Lead Removal from Aqueous Solutions and Determining Adsorption Kinetics and Isotherms

Recently the low-cost adsorbent for heavy metals removal such as Lead in recent years has been noticed by researchers. In this study, lead removal by clinoptilolite has been investigated. Non-continuous lead absorption from aqueous solution was carried out by using clinoptilolite. The zeolite characteristics were analyzed with SEM and XRD. The effect of pH variables (1, 3, 5, 7, 10), contact time (15, 30, 45, 60, 90 min), clinoptilolite adsorbent dosage (1, 3, 5, 7, 10 g) and lead concentrations (10, 20, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 & 100 mg/L) were studied on lead removal efficiency and adsorption isotherms and kinetics in constant temperature and stirrer speed of 250 rpm. According to the results, optimum conditions of lead removal by natural zeolite were pH of 8, adsorbent dosage of 5 g/L and contact time of 45 min., the highest removal efficiency of 89.6 achieved. By increasing metal concentration, the amount of removed lead was decreased while absorption capacity increased. Of the two studied models, the Langmuir isotherm had better conformity for lead adsorption (R2=0.99) than other isotherms. Also the pseudo second order kinetics model had better conformity with achieved data than other models. Results of this study indicated that natural clinoptilolite zeolite can be considered as an efficient and cost effective adsorbent for lead removal from aqueous solutions.