TY - JOUR
T1 - Facile and affordable synthetic route of nano powder zeolite and its application in fast softening of water hardness
AU - El-Nahas, Safaa
AU - Osman, Ahmed I.
AU - Arafat, Abdulrahem S.
AU - Al-Muhtaseb, Ala'a H.
AU - Salman, Hassan M.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge the support given by the EPSRC project “Advancing Creative Circular Economies for Plastics via Technological-Social Transitions” (ACCEPT Transitions, EP/S025545/1). AO wish to acknowledge the support of the Sustainable Energy Research Centre , at Queen’s University Belfast Pioneering Research Programme. The authors also wish to acknowledge the support of The Bryden Centre project (Project ID VA5048) which was awarded by The European Union’s INTERREG VA Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB), with match funding provided by the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland and the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation in the Republic of Ireland. The authors would like to thank Charlie Farrell and Patrick McNicholl who assisted in the proof-reading of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2020/2
Y1 - 2020/2
N2 - Herein, we proposed an affordable and facile way of treating the hardening of water from local groundwater and seawater sources. This was facilitated by synthesizing zeolitic materials via an effortless and affordable method from readily available disposed of waste materials. Firstly, by converting waste aluminium (scrap wire cables, takeaway foil, cans, and spray aerosol bottles) along with disposed of silica gel into active zeolitic materials with the aid of a conventional domestic microwave. Small amounts of the produced zeolites (NaX and NaA) were utilized in the removal of the hardness of water (10 g.L−1), showing elimination of Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions within 30 min, removing 90 % of the total hardness (> 1000 ppm). The spent zeolite samples can be further used for more than two consequent cycles, then the regeneration can be promoted by using NaCl solution at ambient conditions. The total price for the synthesis of 1 kg of the zeolite produced herein is 14 $/kg. This is 70 % lower than the price of commercial zeolites available in the market. Our proposed facile route in zeolite preparation could potentially change the traditional costly softening treatment techniques. It also minimizes the use of extra chemical materials, templates and multi-step procedures. The excellent hardness removal capacity in groundwater and seawater using synthesized zeolite samples could open doors for various applications.
AB - Herein, we proposed an affordable and facile way of treating the hardening of water from local groundwater and seawater sources. This was facilitated by synthesizing zeolitic materials via an effortless and affordable method from readily available disposed of waste materials. Firstly, by converting waste aluminium (scrap wire cables, takeaway foil, cans, and spray aerosol bottles) along with disposed of silica gel into active zeolitic materials with the aid of a conventional domestic microwave. Small amounts of the produced zeolites (NaX and NaA) were utilized in the removal of the hardness of water (10 g.L−1), showing elimination of Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions within 30 min, removing 90 % of the total hardness (> 1000 ppm). The spent zeolite samples can be further used for more than two consequent cycles, then the regeneration can be promoted by using NaCl solution at ambient conditions. The total price for the synthesis of 1 kg of the zeolite produced herein is 14 $/kg. This is 70 % lower than the price of commercial zeolites available in the market. Our proposed facile route in zeolite preparation could potentially change the traditional costly softening treatment techniques. It also minimizes the use of extra chemical materials, templates and multi-step procedures. The excellent hardness removal capacity in groundwater and seawater using synthesized zeolite samples could open doors for various applications.
KW - Aluminium waste
KW - Groundwater
KW - Hardness elimination
KW - Ion exchange
KW - Regeneration
KW - Seawater
KW - Synthetic zeolite
KW - Water hardness
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jwpe.2019.101104
DO - 10.1016/j.jwpe.2019.101104
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85076836982
SN - 2214-7144
VL - 33
JO - Journal of Water Process Engineering
JF - Journal of Water Process Engineering
M1 - 101104
ER -