Ammonium removal from aqueous solutions by dissolved air flotation in the presence of zeolite carrier

Abstract

abstract Article history:Received 24 June 2009Received in revised form 11 November 2009Accepted 12 November 2009Available online 8 December 2009Keywords:Dissolved air flotationWater treatmentAmmonium removalNatural zeolite In this paper, dissolved air flotation (DAF) was examined as a possible treatment method for the removal ofammonium ions (NH 4+ ) from surface water. A natural zeolite, clinoptilolite sample with a fine particle size(b10 µm) was used as a carrier material during the flotation tests. Two types DAF cells, batch and continuousimplemented in our laboratories, were used in the flotation experiments. Flotation tests revealed that thetest loaded with 5 mg/L ammonium resulted in a residual ammonium concentration of b0.5 mg/L withcorresponding turbidity values of treated water (b10 NTU). It was observed that the usage of carrier materialwith higher treatment capacity and finer ion exchange material of higher surface area than classical ionexchangers may provide better advantages over the classical DAF method.© 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.