Removal of methylene blue dye from water using silver-exchanged Philippine natural zeolites

Authors

Luce Vida A. Sayson ⋅ PH Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of the Philippines Diliman
Joybelle M. Lopez ⋅ PH Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of the Philippines Diliman
Joven Paolo D. Angeles ⋅ PH Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of the Philippines Diliman
Mae Agatha C. Tumanguil-Quitoras ⋅ PH Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of the Philippines Diliman
Marienette M. Vega ⋅ PH Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of the Philippines Diliman

Abstract

Silver-exchanged zeolites (AgZ) were synthesized via ion-exchange method and their removal of methylene blue (MB) from an aqueous solution were investigated. Natural zeolite powders were activated by heat treatment at 120°C and then immersed in silver nitrate (AgNO₃) solution for several hours. The structure and chemical composition of raw zeolites and AgZ were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy, respectively. XRD showed significant peaks corresponding to both clinoptilolite and heulandite mineral phases. Another diffraction peak at 38.07° appeared for AgZ samples after silver addition. Hence, XRF data determined the Si/Al ratio (SAR) ranging from 2.86 to 3.75 implying the hydrophilic nature of the samples. Adsorption tests were carried out by UV-Vis-NIR spectrometer to determine the adsorption efficiency of zeolite samples for MB aqueous solution. The highest removal efficiency was exhibited by 8AgZ with 39.36% due to the photocatalytic degradation of silver ancillary to the adsorption capacity of zeolites. This study demonstrated that silver-exchanged zeolite could be utilized as an efficient adsorbent for dyes.

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Issue

2022: Proceedings of the 40th Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas Physics Conference

Article ID

SPP-2022-1E-03

Section

Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science

Published

2022-10-09

How to Cite

[1]

LVA Sayson, JM Lopez, JPD Angeles, MAC Tumanguil-Quitoras, and MM Vega, Removal of methylene blue dye from water using silver-exchanged Philippine natural zeolites, Proceedings of the Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas 40, SPP-2022-1E-03 (2022). URL: https://proceedings.spp-online.org/article/view/SPP-2022-1E-03.