Ecuador is one of seven countries with the highest biodiversity on the planet, has an infinite variety of species, animals, plants and microorganisms. A factor that influences the biological richness is the high fluvial precipitation and temperature uniformity. In some regions, especially in the declinations of the Andes, are recorded the highest fluvial precipitation values in the world, which has let to create several aquifers, from which we obtain suitable water for human consumption better than those we found on the surface. However, many human activities exist today that accelerate contamination because residual water infiltrations mainly in the mining and oil industry; in fact it must be considered that Ecuador is one of the countries with the highest amount of oil in the world. Analyzing, mining and oil activities provide with its wastewater a lot of heavy metals, specifically with highest percent of copper, cadmium, lead, magnesium, mercury and zinc. The hardest thing is to react in time about these types of contamination of aquifers as they are difficult to detect, this contamination is not visible, and the power of self-purification of an aquifer is reduced in the absence of oxygen1. To treat the wastewater, there is a worldwide interest in the absorption techniques using ionic interchange for the decontamination of wastewater containing heavy metals. Past studies showed that possibilities of using natural zeolites as adsorbents. In particular, natural zeolites (ZN) are reasserted among the best materials to be chosen on technological processes of removing heavy metals. G. Rodríguez-Fuentes concluded in his study that the use of natural zeolites is important in environmental control of industrial residuals, mainly in removing metals such as Cu, Pb and Zn2. The interest on natural zeolites is based on its high selectivity, strong absorption capacity and low cost. The aim of the present study is to know the absorption capacity of the ZN Zeomagic and Zn Terkim acquired in Ecuador for the removal of heavy metals3. During the laboratory experiment were taken using 100 and 200 mg of zeolites Zeomagic type and Terkim type, with sixteen samples in total, that were put in contact in an agitated system at constant speed of 200 rpm with 2.5 ml of copper nitrate solution evening a concentration of 33.55 mg/ml for various time. The determination of copper adsorbed amount was performed by UV-vis spectrophotometry. Using a very high concentration equal to 33,55 mg/ml of copper nitrate for time incubation of 4 hours with an amount of 200 mg of zeolites Zeomagic, the absorbance capacity is equal to 19.41%, this is the highest value of the tests performed to date. For Terkim zeolite, the absorbance capacity is 18.61% with contact time of one hour, with a total of 200 mg of zeolite. It can be concluded that the removal capacity obtained show that the Zeomagic zeolite can be used as absorbent in the tertiary absorption processes ionic exchange. References: 1Barrer, R. “BIOCYT: Biology Science and Technology”. (2010), 256- 385. 2Rodríguez-Fuentes” J.A. González Editors”. (1991), 227-232. 3Chelishchev N.F. “Use of natural zeolite at Chernobyl”.(1995), 525-532.
STUDY ON NATURAL ZEOLITES COMING FROM ECUADOR FOR DECONTAMINATION OF HEAVY METALS IN AQUIFERS
FALLICO, Carmine;
2015-01-01
Abstract
Ecuador is one of seven countries with the highest biodiversity on the planet, has an infinite variety of species, animals, plants and microorganisms. A factor that influences the biological richness is the high fluvial precipitation and temperature uniformity. In some regions, especially in the declinations of the Andes, are recorded the highest fluvial precipitation values in the world, which has let to create several aquifers, from which we obtain suitable water for human consumption better than those we found on the surface. However, many human activities exist today that accelerate contamination because residual water infiltrations mainly in the mining and oil industry; in fact it must be considered that Ecuador is one of the countries with the highest amount of oil in the world. Analyzing, mining and oil activities provide with its wastewater a lot of heavy metals, specifically with highest percent of copper, cadmium, lead, magnesium, mercury and zinc. The hardest thing is to react in time about these types of contamination of aquifers as they are difficult to detect, this contamination is not visible, and the power of self-purification of an aquifer is reduced in the absence of oxygen1. To treat the wastewater, there is a worldwide interest in the absorption techniques using ionic interchange for the decontamination of wastewater containing heavy metals. Past studies showed that possibilities of using natural zeolites as adsorbents. In particular, natural zeolites (ZN) are reasserted among the best materials to be chosen on technological processes of removing heavy metals. G. Rodríguez-Fuentes concluded in his study that the use of natural zeolites is important in environmental control of industrial residuals, mainly in removing metals such as Cu, Pb and Zn2. The interest on natural zeolites is based on its high selectivity, strong absorption capacity and low cost. The aim of the present study is to know the absorption capacity of the ZN Zeomagic and Zn Terkim acquired in Ecuador for the removal of heavy metals3. During the laboratory experiment were taken using 100 and 200 mg of zeolites Zeomagic type and Terkim type, with sixteen samples in total, that were put in contact in an agitated system at constant speed of 200 rpm with 2.5 ml of copper nitrate solution evening a concentration of 33.55 mg/ml for various time. The determination of copper adsorbed amount was performed by UV-vis spectrophotometry. Using a very high concentration equal to 33,55 mg/ml of copper nitrate for time incubation of 4 hours with an amount of 200 mg of zeolites Zeomagic, the absorbance capacity is equal to 19.41%, this is the highest value of the tests performed to date. For Terkim zeolite, the absorbance capacity is 18.61% with contact time of one hour, with a total of 200 mg of zeolite. It can be concluded that the removal capacity obtained show that the Zeomagic zeolite can be used as absorbent in the tertiary absorption processes ionic exchange. References: 1Barrer, R. “BIOCYT: Biology Science and Technology”. (2010), 256- 385. 2Rodríguez-Fuentes” J.A. González Editors”. (1991), 227-232. 3Chelishchev N.F. “Use of natural zeolite at Chernobyl”.(1995), 525-532.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
