A natural zeolite permeable reactive barrier to treat heavy-metal contaminated waters in Antarctica: Kinetic and fixed-bed studies

Abstract

Ion exchange characteristics of Cu2+ on the natural zeolite clinoptilolite at 2 and 22°C are presented to facilitate the development of a permeable reactive barrier (PRB) to treat heavy-metal contaminated waters in Antarctica. A one-dimensional mass transfer transport model describing non-equilibrium sorption of Cu2+ in fixed-bed flow reveals that saturation capacities are independent of flow rate, but mass transfer coefficients increase with water velocity. Clinoptilolite capacity in fixed-beds is approximately 50% the capacity in equivalent batch systems, and mass transfer coefficients are between two and eight times batch-estimated values. Fixed-bed performance is significantly reduced at..