Efficiency Assessment of Cyanide Adsorption Using Zeolite Modified with Cationic Surfactant from Gold Mine Tailings

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the surface modification efficiency of raw zeolite by hexadecyl trimethylammonium cationic surfactant for cyanide sorption. Properties such as mineralogy, morphology and elemental composition of sorbents were determined. Batch and column tests were performed to evaluate the sorption efficiency of raw and modified zeolite from solution and released from the cyanide polluted pulp. The presence of clinoptilolite mineral and surfactant surface coating due to modification using surfactant was confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis and electron microscopy images. The results of isotherm experiment showed that modification of zeolite with surfactant increased the adsorption capacity of cyanide by zeolite 7 times compared to the raw sample and the maximum adsorption capacity of cyanide by modified zeolite was 3.97 mg/g. The ability of surfactant-modified zeolite to sorb more cyanide than raw zeolite was confirmed by the results of the column test on the cyanide released from the pulp. It was observed that with increasing time, the concentration of cyanide in the outlet solution increases, but this increase in the cyanide concentration in the outlet solution of the column containing the modified zeolite is less than the raw zeolite.

Keywords

• adsorption isotherm
• clinoptilolite
• column test
• pulp