Modification of akdere zeolite and examination of its surface properties

Zeolites are clay minerals which are preferred in adsorption and ion exchange processes because of their presence as low cost material and abundant in nature. Zeolites' content varies according to their location and regions that also causes to change in the physical and chemical properties of zeolites. In this study, a zeolite from Akdere region of Demirci county in the city of Manisa was characterized. The characterization was designed with using, XRF, SEM, TG-DTA-DSC, FTIR, BET surface area anaylses and measurments of zeta potentail. Zeolite samples were heated up to 200°C for heat activation, and then were exposed to HCl and H2O2 before modification with metal ions. The changes on the surface properties of zeolite samples after the treatment with Ca2 + and K+ions were investigated. Clinoptilolite content of the zeolite has been determined by XRF, XRD and FTIR analysis. The surface area for natural zeolite and peroxide exposed to zeolite are 37.95 m 2/gand 40.34 m2/g, respectively. Adsorbed amounts of Methylene blue were 28.6 mg/g and 42.7mg/g at the conditions of 20°C, pH 7, 0.05g/100ml adsorban and 30minutes contact time for natural zeolite and Ca2+ modified zeolite samples, respectively. In nickel adsorption, the best conditions were determined as 20°C, pH at 7, 0.1g/100ml adsorban and 60 minutes contact time. For those conditions, the adsorption has reached to 3.56 mg/g, 6.01mg/g and 12.37mg/g for natural zeolite, Ca modified, and K modified zeolite, respectively. The results have shown that methylene blue and nickel ion adsorption ability of the Ca2 + and K + modified zeolite was higher than natural zeolite. Methylene blue and nickel adsorption were fitted to Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Pseudo-second-order kinetic model were better described the formation of adsorption. Boron adsorption conditions were optimized using the Taguchi fractional separation method as 35°C for temperature, 30 mgL-1 for boron concentration, 1.0/100 for solidto liquid ratio, 8 for pH and 15min for contact time. The confirmation experiments for those conditions showed that the amounts of boron left in the solution were 9.9465 and 9.8749 mgL-1 Keywords: Zeolite, Clinoptilolite, surface properties, adsorption, isotherm, kinetics, methylene blue, nickel, boron