Synthetic sodalite doped with silver nanoparticles : characterization and mercury (II) removal from aqueous solutions

Tauanov, Z. and Tsakiridis, P. E. and Shah, D. and Inglezakis, V. J. (2019) Synthetic sodalite doped with silver nanoparticles : characterization and mercury (II) removal from aqueous solutions. Journal of Environmental Science and Health - Part A Toxic/Hazardous Substances and Environmental Engineering, 54 (9). pp. 951-959. ISSN 1093-4529 (https://doi.org/10.1080/10934529.2019.1611129)

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Abstract

In this work, a novel silver nanoparticles-doped synthetic sodalitic composite was synthesized and characterized using advanced characterization methods, namely TEM-EDS, XRD, SEM, XRF, BET, zeta potential, and particle size analysis. The synthesized nanocomposite was used for the removal of Hg2+ from 10 ppm aqueous solutions of initial pH equal to 2. The results showed that the sodalitic nanocomposites removed up to 98.65% of Hg2+, which is ∼16% and 70% higher than the removal achieved by sodalite and parent coal fly ash, respectively. The findings revealed that the Hg2+ removal mechanism is a multifaceted mechanism that predominantly involves adsorption, precipitation and Hg-Ag amalgamation. The study of the anions effect (Cl−, NO3−, C2H3O2−, and SO42−) indicated that the Hg2+ uptake is comparatively higher when Cl− anions co-exist with Hg2+ in the solution.