Water Purification with Natural Sorbents: Effect of Surface Modification with Nano-structured Particles

Modified nanostructured sorbents are widely used in water treatment processes. In this work, aluminum and iron particles prepared by electro-spark dispersion have been applied as modifiers. Zeolite samples from “Holinskoe” mineral deposit (Russia, Republic of Buryatia), with a size smaller than 0.1 mm, have been modified with aluminum and iron particles, using a sol-gel process. The properties of the modified materials have been determined by means of sorption test, when removing ions Pb2+, Fe3+ and Cd2+ from the model solutions in static conditions. Using the method of thermal desorption of nitrogen (BET) it has been shown that increasing the iron content in the samples of nanostructured modified sorbents does not affect the increase in specific surface area and pore volume of the samples. Ions concentrations have been analyzed by stripping voltammetry and photocolorimetry. As a result, modified sorbents revealed a high efficiency sorption of heavy metals.