Adsorptive Removal of Iron and Manganese from Groundwater Samples in Ghana by Zeolite Y Synthesized from Bauxite and Kaolin

oleh: Bright Kwakye-Awuah, Baah Sefa-Ntiri, Elizabeth Von-Kiti, Isaac Nkrumah, Craig Williams

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2019-09-01

Deskripsi

Ground water samples from residential homes in three Regions of Ghana: Central, Greater Accra and Ashanti, were analyzed for iron and manganese contamination. The samples were exposed to characterized zeolite Y by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier transformed-infrared spectroscopy and thermos gravimetric-differential thermal analysis. Zeolite Y is able to remove 98% of iron and 97% of manganese within an hour. The adsorption of both iron and manganese followed the Freundlich model, suggesting that the ions were transported onto the zeolite Y surface and subsequently diffused into the zeolite Y framework. The kinetic studies showed that pseudo-first order and intra particle and film diffusion models provided the best fit. The adsorption at 0.2 mg L<sup>&#8722;1</sup> Fe (<inline-formula> <math display="inline"> <semantics> <mrow> <msub> <mi>Q</mi> <mrow> <mn>0.2</mn> </mrow> </msub> </mrow> </semantics> </math> </inline-formula>) is calculated to be 0.023 mg g<sup>&#8722;1</sup> for the Freundlich adsorption model, whilst that of manganese at 0.05 mg L<sup>&#8722;1</sup> Mn (<inline-formula> <math display="inline"> <semantics> <mrow> <msub> <mi>Q</mi> <mrow> <mn>0.05</mn> </mrow> </msub> </mrow> </semantics> </math> </inline-formula>) is evaluated to be 0.015 mg g<sup>&#8722;1</sup>. The zeolite retains its adsorption properties when retrieved from the first exposure water sample, washed copiously with distilled water and added to fresh water samples. The results suggest that zeolite Y can be used as a potential adsorbent for the removal of iron and manganese from groundwater.