Ismail et al., 2013 46 Synthesis of Zeolite A from Sudanese Montmorillonite Clay to remove Nickel and Copper ions from Aqueous Solutions

The main objective of this research is to prepare Zeolite A with high efficiency from local Sudanese montmorillonite clay. This is considered as an effective alternative to chemical adsorbents in the removal of heavy metals such as nickel and copper from aqueous solutions. To synthesize Zeolite, montmorillonite clay was heated at 800oC for1hour and thermally treated with 5M sodium hydroxide solution at 100oC for 2h.The chemical composition of montmorillonite clay and synthesized Zeolite were also investigated. Furthermore, it was analyzed using the X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infra-Red(FT-IR),Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-ray Florence (XRF).The removal capacity and percentage of zeolite A was studied. XRD patterns and FT-IR spectra were ascertained the formation of Zeolite A successfully. The results revealed that, the adsorption process onto synthesis Zeolite A depend on many factors such as initial metal ion concentrations, adsorbent dose, contact time and initial pH of the solution. Moreover, it was found that Zeolite A is very effective in removing copper ions than nickel ions from aqueous solutions