Synthetic Nax Zeolite as a Very Efficient Heavy Metals Sorbent in Batch and Dynamic Conditions

The heavy metals removal efficiency of synthetic NaX zeolite has been studied. The sorbent was fully characterized by nitrogen sorption, X-ray diffraction, FT-IR and scanning electron microscopy. The batch sorption tests were performed taking into consideration several factors such as m/V ratio, contact time, pH and initial metal ions concentration. The maximum sorption capacities were 3.45, 3.86 and 4 mmol g−1 for Pb2+, Cd2+ and Cu2+, respectively. Fixed-bed experiments were carried out to test the applicability of NaX zeolite as well as column regeneration experiments.