AMMONIA REMOVAL FROM AQUEOUS SOLUTION BY ION EXCHANGE USING CLINOPTILOLITE AND VERIFICATION OF THE PROCESS THROUGH A NUMERICAL STUDY

The potential of the clinoptilolite for ammonia removal from aqueous solution through ion exchange process was assessed in this study. The effects of the most relevant parameters of the ion exchange process such as contact time temperature and solution concentration were examined. The results show that ammonia removal by clinoptilolite occurs rapidly within the 90 min of contact time. The best performances of the clinoptilolite for ammonia removal from aqueous solution have been emphasized by a numerical computation developed using the Table Curve software. The mathematical model corresponding to the characteristic equation provides a good arrangement of the experimental points on the responding surface, simplicity of the characteristic equation and a good determination coefficient that is near unity.