Ukrainian Journal of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, 2020, Vol. 3, N 2 12 Ukrainian Journal of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences http://ujvas.com.ua Stepan Gzhytskyi National University of Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnologies Lviv Volume 3 Number 2 original article UDC 544.723 doi: 10.32718/ujvas3-2.03 Removal of Cd 2+ from aqueous solution by zeolite synthesized from Egyptian kaolin Asmaa Kamel Bahgaat 1* , Helmy El-Sayed Hassan 2 , Ahmed Abddel Aziz Melegy 3 , Ahmed Mohamed Abd-El kareem 1 , Manar Hassan Mohamed 2 1 Soil Chemistry Dept. Desert Research Center (DRC), Cairo, Egypt 2 Laser Application in Metrology, Photochemistry and Agriculture Dept., National Institute of Laser Enhanced Sciences (NILES), Cairo University 3 Geological Sciences Dept., National Research Center (NRC), Giza, Egypt Article info Received 24.03.2020 Received in revised form 27.04.2020 Accepted 28.04.2020 Abstract Zeolite Na-Y was prepared from kaolin located in Wadi-Hagul, Suez, Egypt. The synthetic zeolite prepared by the hydrothermal reaction of kaolin was characterized by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scan- ning electron microscopy (SEM) and cation exchange capacity (CEC). Cadmium ion removal was investigated using the synthetic solution of Cd 2+ ions with different concentrations at room temperature (25 °C ± 0.2), initial pH of the solution and contact times. The optimum contact time for removal of Cd 2+ ion was 10 min, with 0.1g of synthetic zeolite and pH 7.57. The experimental data were correlated using Langmuir, Freundlich and Harkins- Jura adsorption isotherms. The maximum adsorption capacity Qm obtained from the Langmuir isotherm was 14.006 mg/g for Cd 2+ ion. Kinetic studies reveal that synthetic zeolite is more effective as adsorbent for removing cadmium ions. Key words: Egyptian synthetic zeolite-Y, Adsorption isotherms, Kinetic models, Cd 2+ , Removal, Distribution coefficient. Correspondence author Asmaa Kamel Bahgaat E-mail: akbahgaat@hotmail.com 2020 Asmaa Kamel Bahgaat et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Contents 1. Introduction ……..……….. 2. Materials and methods …... 3. Results and discussion …... 4. Conclusions ……………… References ………………….. 12 13 15 21 21 1. Introduction Heavy metal pollution seriously harms the environment and human health resulting in reduced growth and develop- ment, as well as diseases such as cancer, organ and nervous system damage, along with the ecosystem (Yuna, 2016; Hong et al., 2019). Environmental pollution became one of the common important subjects that attract the attention of many scientists at present (Fathy et al., 2016). The removal of heavy metals (Pb 2+ , Zn 2+ , Cd 2+ , Cu 2+ and Cr 2+ ) from wastewater has been received great attention, because of the adverse effect on the health and the natural environment (Ismael et al., 2012; Merrikhpour & Jalali, 2013; Guan et al., 2019).Various treatment processes are available, among which ion-exchange is considered to be cost-effective if low-cost ion-exchangers such as zeolites are used (El‑Naggar et al., 2019). The use of alternative low-cost materials with high selec- tivity as potential sorbents has been emphasized recently (Ji et al., 2020). Adsorption is a special characteristic of zeolites which is usually ion exchange occurs into the pore openings of the ion exchanger and active side on the surface. The amount of metal ion to be adsorbed is strongly affected by the nature and concentration of the metal ion, pH, and metal solubility, presence of competing and complexion ions (El‑Naggar et al., 2019). Natural kaolin is the most common clay mineral of a group of hydrous aluminum silicate, has a typical 1 : 1 lay- ered structure, with one tetrahedral and one octahedral sheet, Citation: Asmaa Kamel Bahgaat, Helmy El-Sayed Hassan, Ahmed Abddel Aziz Melegy, Ahmed Mohamed Abd-El kareem, & Manar Hassan Mohamed (2020). Removal of Cd 2+ from aqueous solution by zeolite synthesized from Egyptian kaolin. Ukrainian Journal of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, 3(2), 12–23. 2020