REMOVAL OF AMMONIA BY CLINOPTILOLITE

The important advantage of zeolite applied to water treatment is its high porosity when comparing to other minerals. The porosity results in good hydrodynamic properties (the increase in the pressure loss on the zeolite filters is 1.5-2.0 times smaller than in the case of sand filters) and adsorption roperties, and in turn high capacity which allows for adsorption of contaminants (a clinoptilolite filter allows for removal of phytoplankton and bacteria). The increase in the application of artificial fertilizers and gradual contamination of water resulted from discharging industrial wastewater into the environment led to the contamination of the environment by nitric compounds. Wastewater contains about 15-50 mg dm(-3) of nitric compounds (based on nitrogen) - ammonia salts constitute about 55-60% whereas organic forms of proteins, pesticides and aminoacids about 40-50%. Natural clinoptilolite could be applied to remove ammonium ions from water and wastewater. The ammonium ion uptake behaviour of clinoptilolite is connected to the processes of ion exchange. The main aim of this investigation is to evaluate the adsorption capacity of clinoptilolite towards ammonium ions. According to the obtained results the adsorption capacity of clinoptilolite for the removal of ammonium ions demonstrates its potential application in the treatment of water, wastewater and sanitary landfill leachate contaminated with ammonia. The highest adsorption capacity of clinoptilolite towards ammonium ions of 3.79 mg g(-1) was found for the initial concentration of 300 mg L-1. The highest removal level reached by clinoptilolite for ammonium was of 99.74% for the initial concentration of ammonia of 50 mg L-1. The effect of exposure time on maximum uptake of ammonia was found to be insignificant.