Preparation of zeolite A by inorganic complex precursor route for efficient elimination of heavy metal cations from aqueous solutions

Abstract

In the present study, zeolite A was synthesized via inorganic complex precursor as an efficient novel route by using tris(acetylacetonato)aluminum(III), [Al(C₅H₇O₂)₃], and tris(acetylacetonato)silicon(IV) chloride hydrochloride, [Si(C₅H₇O₂)₃]Cl.HCl. The physicochemical properties of the zeolite A were characterized by FT-IR, XRD, SEM/EDX, BJH, and BET techniques. The performance of the synthesized zeolite A was evaluated for the elimination of heavy metal cations (Co²⁺, Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺, Cr³⁺ and Pb²⁺) from aqueous solutions. The results revealed that removal efficiencies of the synthesized zeolite A toward all investigated heavy metal cations were obtained to be more than 95% and the maximum removal efficiency was observed for Pb²⁺. The influence of parameters such as pH, contact time and adsorbent amount was surveyed on the removal efficiency of Pb²⁺ by the zeolite A. The most desirable conditions for Pb²⁺ removal was attained at pH 6.5, the zeolite amount of 0.5 g, 400 mgL⁻¹ initial concentration of Pb²⁺ and the contact time of 30 min. The adsorption process followed second- order kinetics model and the pseudo-second-order adsorption rate constant (k₂) was obtained to be 4.32 × 10⁻⁴ g mg⁻¹min⁻¹.

Keywords:

• Zeolite A
• inorganic complex precursor
• synthesis method
• efficient removal
• heavy metal ions

Acknowledgement

The authors are thankful to the Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST) to support.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Funding

The research was conducted at IROST and there is no other funding resource to support it.

Authors' contributions

Seyed Mohsen Hashemi: carried out the experiments. Alireza Salehirad: supervised the project, aided in interpreting the results and contributed to the final manuscript. Zarrin nasri: helped supervise the project.

Research involving human participants and/or animals

The research was not involving Human Participants and/or Animals.

Informed consent

The research was not involving human participants.