CHARACTERIZATION OF PRETREATED PALYGORSKITE FOR AMMONIA GAS ADSORPTION

Abstract

Palygorskite, which is one of magnesium aluminum silicate, was investigated as adsorbent to adsorb ammonia gas in this study. The palygorskite was pretreated with HCl, HNO₃ or NaOH with different concentration, temperature and reaction time. Raw palygorskite and pretreated ones were characterized with specific surface area by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method, crystal structure by X-ray diffraction and metal dissolution by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy. Adsorption experiments were carried out at room temperature with an initial ammonia concentration in the range of 150-3000 ppm in nitrogen carrier gas. The adsorption capacity of ammonia was investigated by the 10% breakthrough time. The results showed that palygorskite had excellent adsorption property for adsorbing ammonia. The sample HCl-352 pretreated with 3 mol/l of HCl at 50°C for 24 hours had the highest adsorption capacity of 17.2mg/g.