ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Removal of Formaldehyde from Synthetic
Wastewater Using Natural
and Modified Zeolites
Dainius Paliulis
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Department of Environmental Protection, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University,
Saulėtekio al. 11, LT-10223 Vilnius, Lithuania
Submission date: 2015-10-13
Final revision date: 2015-11-09
Acceptance date: 2015-11-24
Publication date: 2016-01-25
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2016;25(1):251-257
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Chemically modified and natural zeolite consisting of clinoptilolite and mordenite minerals (Sokirnica
Mine, Ukraine) was selected for testing the adsorption ability of formaldehyde. Modified zeolite was produced
from natural zeolite by chemical activation with sulphuric acid (H2SO4) 2M at 95-98°C for six hours.
Synthetic wastewater was prepared by adding formaldehyde at concentrations equal to or higher than the
maximum allowable concentration (MAC) values: 1 MAC = 2 mg/l, 2 MAC = 4 mg/l, 3 MAC = 6 mg/l, 5
MAC = 10 mg/l, and 10 MAC = 20 mg/l. The effects of adsorption time (5 min, 10 min, 30 min, 60 min,
3 h, 5 h, 8 h, and 12 h) were examined for the selected formaldehyde concentrations. Adsorption efficiency,
adsorption capacity, and iodine numbers were evaluated for the selected adsorbents. The positive effect
of natural zeolite chemical modification was obtained in the range of 5.4 to 24.0%, with an average value
of 9.2 %. Iodine number was selected as a parameter for natural zeolite chemical modification with 2M
sulphuric acid evaluation. The iodine number before sorption was 154.3 mg∙g-1 and after modification was
164.5 mg∙g-1.