The characterization of phosphoric acid‐treated peat as a cation exchanger

Abstract

Peat, obtained from Glenamoy, County Mayo, Ireland, is shown to have enhanced cation exchange capacities after treatment with small amounts of phosphoric acid. It is also shown that the use of both sulfuric and phosphoric acid yields higher capacities which are analogous to those observed previously for the sulfuric acid treatment alone. Even though the phosphoric acid treatment did not show the highest capacities, it has excellent physical properties: Greatly reduced leaching and swelling in comparison to the other forms of peat which have been studied. Also, high recoveries of Cu from dilute solutions (l.33ppm) is seen. Thus, the data indicate the feasibility of utilizing phosphoric acid‐treated peat as an inexpensive cation exchanger in large scale water treatment flow systems.

Key words:

• Peat
• Cation Exchanger