During recent years stringent regulations of wastewater discharge into aquatic bodies have been imposed. Removal of contaminants, as heavy metals, is one of the fundamental goal in waste treatment. In order to achieve efficient cost effective technology, natural materials as zeolites are generally been applied is wastewater treatment to remove pollutants. We investigated the ability of scolecite, a natural zeolite from the top of the basaltic flows of Serra Geral Formation in Paraná Basin, Brazil, to retain chromium(III), nickel(II), cadmium(II) and manganese(II) in synthetic aqueous effluents. We evaluated the ion selectivity by batch experiments in a binary combination solution. The scolecite showed high efficiency retaining the tested metals, even when they are in competition. The zeolite preference for one cation could be related to cations with high charge density (e.g., Cr(III)) and lower hydration energies (e.g., Cd(II)). The unusual Cd(II) exchange behavior observed can be related to its lability. Cr(III) and Ni(II) were efficiently adsorbed, so they could not be substantially removed from scolecite structure by sodium or calcium cations.
cation exchange; heavy metals; scolecite
