Foam formation of Consolidated Linde F Zeolite and Evaluation of Heavy Metal Removal Characteristics

Abstract

Zeolite is a microporous material that has various functions such as cation exchange capacity, adsorption ability, and so on. Zeolite is usually produced as a fine powder. A binder is generally used to prepare a bulky consolidated zeolite. In this conventional method, however, the content of zeolite is reduced, and the manufacturing process is complicated. Our research group has reported that Linde F zeolite can be directly synthesized as a binder-less consolidated body by using mechanochemical activated aluminum hydroxide as an Al source. Nevertheless, mechanochemical processing requires high costs and a lot of time. In the present study, the bulky consolidated Linde F zeolite was successfully synthesized by using no materials mechanochemically treated. Linde F zeolite was obtained at lower temperatures by increasing the amount of alkali addition. It was revealed that consolidated Linde F zeolite has the ability to remove cadmium ions. Furthermore, the foamed Linde F zeolite was produced by a hydrogen foaming reaction to improve the removability of heavy metal ions. It was also proved that the microstructure of consolidated zeolite was controlled by adding Al powder and zinc stearate. The foamed zeolite exhibited faster and better removability of cadmium ion than the unfoamed zeolite. Therefore, it was suggested that the synthesized Linde F zeolite could be applied to water purification materials.