Removal of Aluminum (Iii) From Synthetic Acid Mine Drainage Through Adsorption Using Loose and 3d- Printed Philippine Natural Zeolite

Abstract Zeolite is proven to be an effective material for applications in adsorption, such as in heavy metal removal from wastewater. In these types of applications, zeolite has typically been used in a granular form packed in a fixed column bed. This study evaluated the effectiveness of commercial Philippine Natural Zeolite (PNZ) as an adsorbent for Al (III). This study also investigated the feasibility of incorporating zeolite into 3D-printed monoliths for use in the adsorption of Al (III) from synthetically produced acid mine drainage (AMD) solution. A 3D-printed permeable reactive barrier (PRB) was fabricated via direct ink writing (DIW) using an Eazao Bio 3D printer with a nozzle diameter of 1.2 mm, printing speed of 11 mm/s, and extrusion pressure of 0.4 MPa. The maximum removal capacity of the powdered commercial Philippine Natural Zeolite (PNZ) was found to be 85.520% ± 0.057%. The equilibrium time for the adsorption of Al (III) using commercial Philippine Natural Zeolite (PNZ) was at 60 minutes. For the 3D-printed permeable reactive barrier (PRB), the removal capacity of a single permeable reactive barrier (PRB) was approximately 34.231% ± 0.012%. The highest removal capacity was obtained using 3 permeable reactive barrier (PRB), removing 99.150% ± 0.071% of the initial Al (III) concentration.