Author(s)

Marcia Silva^*, Alice Lecus, Yuting Lin, Joseph Corrao

Water Technology Accelerator (WaTA), University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, USA.

In this study, a comparison of a variety of existing acid treatment methods for zeolite based on their abilities to modify physical properties of the particles is performed. Evaluation of the effects that four different acids have on numerous properties of the zeolites including surface area, pore size, pore volume, thermal stability, IR spectra, crystallinity, and morphology is conducted and compared with the reference untreated zeolite. Furthermore, all five zeolite particles are evaluated for their adsorption properties in column mode experiments. The importance of the examined features is discussed. The results obtained in this work are compared to similar studies to examine which conditions greatly influence the zeolite modifications.

Zeolites, Clinoptilolites, Acid Treatment, Physical Properties

Silva, M. , Lecus, A. , Lin, Y. and Corrao, J. (2019) Tailoring Natural Zeolites by Acid Treatments. Journal of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, 7, 26-37. doi: 10.4236/msce.2019.72003.