Synthesis of Zinc Oxide Activated Acor Montmorillonite and Its Performance on the Removal of Mercury Ions from Aqueous Media

This paper investigated the synthesis of zinc oxide-activated ACOR montmorillonite composite and its performance in the removal of mercury ions in aqueous media. The ACOR montmorillonite was activated using Potassium Hydroxide solution. The activated ACOR montmorillonite was titrated with zinc nitrate to produce the zinc oxide-activated ACOR montmorillonite composite. The adsorption experiments were conducted using batch mode techniques, and under reducing condition at ambient temperature. The reaction mechanism indicated less than one proton coefficient, higher mass transfer rates than that of bare montmorillonite, and intraparticle diffusion containing intercept(c) equals 2.58, ≠ 0. In the presence of zinc oxide coating, the pH provided an adsorption efficiency of 85.55 % at pH=5 and 89.62 % at pH =7. Therefore, the zinc oxide—activated ACOR montmorillonite composite is a novel adsorbent with very high adsorption capacity. The zinc oxide- activated ACOR montmorillonite composite significantly enhanced the adsorption of mercury ions.

Keywords: Activation; Adsorption Kinetics; Aging; Coatings; Zinc Oxide; Mercury; Montmorillonite.