Abstract:
The enhancingdemands for a healthy environment, particularly for the removal of pollutants from industrialand municipal wastewater, are a major reason to search for new materials.Zeoliteshave been reported as confident adsorbentes for the removal of environmentalpollutants. This study dealswith characterization of natural zeolite obtained from Hamusit,South Gondar Zone, Ethiopia, by Fourier transforms infrared analysis, scanning electron microscope, Zeta potential , X-ray florescence and ICP-OES and study its application for the removal of Cr (VI) ion from aqueous solution.Characterization results showed that natural zeolite surface is dominated with negative charge and Si/Al ratio of 2.8, which indicate that the natural zeolites can be classified as intermediate zeolites.
The adsorption of Cr(VI) from an aqueous solution on anatural zeolite was studied in a batch method. The influence of various parameters were measured including, initialpH, initial concentration of Cr (VI) and dosage of adsorbent to determine their effect on the removal. The experimental results from batch experment showed that the highest removal efficiency occurs at pH 7, initial concentration of 10 mg / L and 0.25 g of adsorbent dose.The resultsshowed that, the natural zeolite obtained from Hamusit holds a great potential to remove Cr(VI) ions from solution.