ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Efficient Removal of Hexavalent Chromium
in Aqueous Solution by Cationic
Surfactant-Treated Natural Anatolian
Clinoptilolite
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1
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa,
Avcilar, Istanbul-34320, Turkey
2
Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa,
Avcilar, Istanbul-34320, Turkey
3
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Istanbul Technical University,
Maslak, Istanbul-34469, Turkey
4
Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Sakarya University,
Esentepe Campus, Sakarya-54187, Turkey
Submission date: 2021-05-03
Final revision date: 2021-07-06
Acceptance date: 2021-07-16
Online publication date: 2022-01-18
Publication date: 2022-02-16
Corresponding author
Sibel Yalçın
Chemistry Department, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, 34320, Istanbul, Turkey
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2022;31(2):1415-1425
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ABSTRACT
Sodium clinoptilolite-rich tuff from the Western Anatolia, Bigadic region was modified with
octadecyltrimethylammonium bromide(ODTMA-Br) and hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide
(HDTMA-Br), and used for the first time to remove chromium(VI) from aqueous solution in a series of
batch adsorption experiments. Various physico-chemical parameters affecting the adsorption process
such as the contact time, pH, the optimum sorbent dosage and the initial concentration of chromium
were studied. The Cr(VI) adsorption capacity of ODTMA- and HDTMA-treated clinoptilolite (Cp)
was highly pH-dependent, and was found to be 3.65 mg/g and 2.85 mg/g at pH 2.0 and 3.0, and
0.25 g/50 mL sorbent dosage, 3 h equilibrium time and 25ºC, respectively. Langmuir, Freundlich and
Dubinin–Radushkevich (D–R) models were applied to describe the adsorption isotherms. Langmuir’s
model fitted the equilibrium data better than the Freundlich isotherm. From the D-R isotherm model, the
mean adsorption energy (E) calculated as 15.075 and 14.744 kJ/mol for ODTMA-Cp and HDTMA-Cp
sorbents showed that the adsorption of chromium occurred by chemisorption. The kinetic data indicated
that the sorption of hexavalent chromium onto modified Cp followed well the pseudo-first-order
kinetics. The current study considers that further developments in this line of research should continue to grow in the coming years, i.e., regarding water treatment, heavy metal and chromate removal using
easily-available, low-cost microporous natural materials such as clinoptilolite.