Investigations on the application of different synthetic zeolites for radium removal from water

Abstract

One possible method for removing radium from waters is to use zeolites. The research carried out and described in the article was aimed at examining a wide spectrum of zeolites: natural (clinoptilolite) and synthetic (NaP1, 13X, 3A, 5A), as some of them show the high efficiency of radium removal from all types of water, it means the drinking water and brines as well. Characteristic of zeolites, as the percentage of zeolite phase and other components, was performed by XRD analysis. For radium removal testing two samples of brines, collected from underground mine outflow, were used. Studies have confirmed, that the best efficiency of radium removal from mine water was found for the NaP1 type zeolite, produced on the base of fly ash with use of NaOH. Experiments showed that clinoptilolite, 3A, 5A and 13X have significantly lower efficiency of radium removal.

Keywords: Radium; Radium removal efficiency; Water purification; Zeolite.