Ammonium Removal Using Batch and Fixed Bed Column by

Zeolite A-Carbon Synthesized from Coal Bottom Ash

Nurul Widiastuti, Didik Prasetyoko, Hamzah Fansuri and Yanik Ika Widiastuti

Department of Chemistry
Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya, Indonesia, 60111
*
&RUUHVSRQGLQJ$XWKRUV(-mail: nurul_widiastuti@chem.its.ac.id

Keywords: .Zeolite A, Coal bottom ash, Ammonium removal

Extended Abstract

Bottom ash is coal ash waste released due to the usage of coal in the electric power plant. According
to data reported by Ministry of Environment Indonesia, bottom ash waste was about 58 ton/day (Said,
2010). The coal ash waste is clasified as hazardous and dangerous waste under Indonesian regulation
(PP85/1999), because it could cause self burning and negative impact to human health. Therefore, the
ash waste must be utilised such as by converting the ash to become zeolite-carbon.

On the other hand, ammonium is one of the significant contaminant of wastewater. The excessive
presence of ammonium could cause eutrophication of stuaries, rivers, lakes and coastal seas, corrosion
or biological fouling problem in industrial water system (Widiastuti et al, 2011). Zeolite is a potensial
material to remove ammonium from wastewater. The zeolite framework generates one negative
charge on the framework owing to the substitution of aluminum (Al3+) atom for silicon (Si4+) in the
three dimensional framework of aluminosilicate tetrahedral (Englert and Rubio, 2005). The negative
charge in the zeolite framework is balanced by cations such Na +, that can be exchanged by the
ammonium ion. Zeolite A is a type of zeolite that has Si/Al ratio of 1 resulting in high ion exchange.

This research focuses on the effectiveness of ammonium removal using batch and fixed bed column
by zeolite A-carbon synthesized from coal bottom ash. The zeolite A-carbon was synthesized by
fusion method in nitrogen atmosphere followed by a hydrothermal treatment (Yanti, 2009).
Adsorption capacity of the synthesized zeolite was determined in batch by varying contact time
(Figure 1), initialconcentration of ammonium and pH. The theoritical aspect of adsorption including
adsorption isotherm and kinetics were also studied (Table 1).

(a) (b)

Figure 1. (a) Effect of contact time on ammonium removal capacity of the synthesized zeolite,
Adsorption condition: adsorbent 0.5 gram, volume = 50 mL, initial concentration= 10 mg/L at room
temperature and (b) breakthrough curve of ammonium ion adsorption. Adsorption condition: pH=6;
influent concentration (Co) = 60mg/L; adsorbent=1 g).

Proc. of the 14th Asia Pacific Confederation of Chemical Engineering Congress

Editors: Chi-Hwa Wang, Xin Wang and Praveen Linga.
Copyright 2012 APCChE Organisers. All rights reserved. Published by: Research Publishing
ISBN: 978-981-07-1445-1
doi:10.3850/978-981-07-1445-1 769
644
 Proc. of the 14th Asia Pacific Confederation of Chemical Engineering Congress

In addition, adsorption in fixed bed column was conducted by varying flow rate (Figure 1). Results
showed that the optimum conditions of adsorption obtained at 10 hours, pH 6 and initial
concentration of 60 mg/L. The adsorption kinetics is best approximated by the second order model,
whereas adsorption isoterm is best fit the data. In fixed bed column, the highest adsorption capacity
was 115.213 mg/g which was obtained at flow rate of 0.5 mL/min, pH 6 and initial concentration of
effluent 60 mg/L based on Thomas model. Figure 2 show the Scanning Electron Microscopic
photographs of the synthesized zeolite A-carbon from the bottom.

(a) (b)

Figure 2. Scanning Electron Microscopic photographs of (a) the synthesized zeolite A-carbon and (b)
the synthesized zeolite A-carbon (granule) after adsorption.

Table 1. Adsorption isotherm tested and kinetics parameters using various parameter models.

Adsorption isoterm Kinetics parameter

Adsorption Parameter Kinetic Parameter R2
isotherm model
model
Langmuir Pseudo
kf (min qe
-
k 2
qmax (mg/g) R first 1 0,001 4,1450 0,952
(L/mg) ) (mg/g)
order
Pseudo h
qe
66.667 0,0424 0,781 second (mg/g 0,058 0,8818 0,998
(mg/g)
order min)
Freundlich Intra
kf 2
1/n R paticle Kid 0,005 C 0,610 0,945
(mg/g)/(mg/L)
difussion
0,7741 0,750 0,847
2
Temkin kt (L/mg) B1 R
1,5488 0,576 0,823

Acknowledgement: The authors wishes to thanks the Directorate General of Higher Education,
Indonesia, for the research funding XQGHU+LEDK3DVFDSURMHFW771/I2.7/PM/2011).

References
1. Englert A.H and Rubio J. Characterization and environmental application of a Chilean natural
zeolite, International Journal of Mineral Processing, 75 (1-2), 21-29, 2005
2. Said Faradillah N., Adsorption of Cu(II) ion on zeolite-A synthesized from coal bottom ash,
Skripsi, Chemistry Department, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya, 2010.
3. Widiastuti N, Wu H, Ang H.M and Zhang D. Removal of ammonium from greywater using
natural zeolite, Desalination, 277, 15-23, 2011.
4. Yanti Y. Synthesis of zeolite-A and zeoliteA-carbon from coal bottom ash PT. IPMOMI PAITON
by fusion method, Thesis, Chemistry Department, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember,
Surabaya, 2009.
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