<b>Evaluation of NaX and NaY packed beds for chromium uptake from multicomponent solution<b>

Abstract

In this paper the removal of chromium from Cr/Ca/Mg/K and Cr/Ca/Mg/K/Na solutions was investigated in NaX and NaY packed beds. The breakthrough curves presented some overshooting phenomena where chromium ions displaced the previous exchanged cations. Length of unused bed, overall mass transfer coefficient, operational ratio and dimensionless variance were obtained. According to such mass transfer parameters it was concluded that the chromium uptake is influenced by the competition and interaction of the entering ions. Such influences were verified through some differences in the dynamic selectivity obtained for each system. NaY seemed to have a higher affinity towards Cr3+ and its sites were more efficiently used in the ion exchange process.

Keywords

• zeolite
• breakthrough
• multicomponent
• ion exchange