J. Int. Environmental Application & Science, Vol. 3(5): 422-425 (2008) 422 Adsorption of Zinc Ions in Fixed Beds # Ayşe Selek Murathan 1,∗ , Atilla Murathan 1 , Ahmet Yavuz Yücekutlu 2 1 Gazi University, Engineering & Architecture Faculty, Department of Chemical Engineering, 06570, Ankara, TURKEY; 2 Environment and Forestry Ministry, Ankara, Turkey Abstract: In this study the removal of zinc from aqueous solutions was investigated. Horse chessnut, oak valonia, peduncle of oak valonia, pericarp of oak valonia, seed of oak valonia, diatomite, brownish and beige sepiolites were used as adsorbents. Zn 2+ solution which is prepared by dissolving the pure Zinc nitrate in distilled water, was used as the wastewater sample. Experiments were carried out at continuously operating fixed bed. As a result of this study, adsorption capacities of horse chessnut, oak valonia, peduncle of oak valonia, pericarp of oak valonia, seed of oak valonia, diatomite, brownish and beige sepiolites were found that the maximum amounts of zinc adsorbed by 1 gram of adsorbent are 12.25 mg, 22.75 mg, 87.75 mg, 49.14 mg, 3.34 mg, 5.81 mg, 6.55 mg and 7.15 mg respectively. It was concluded that the oak valonia was an effective adsorbent for the removal of zinc ions from aqueous solutions. Keywords: Adsorption, water pollution, zinc, fixed bed Introduction Among the technologies used for heavy metal control such as precipitation and ion exchange, the adsorption seems to be an attractive method especially when low cost materials can be used as adsorbent. Many studies have been performed on adsorption of heavy metals in waters. Decaying leaves have been proven capable of partially removing heavy metal from polluted water and several factors affecting the removal process have been studied by various researches (Murathan A.S. 2004; Murathan 2005; Alıcılar and Özer, 2001). Salvinia and spirodela have been used for the removal of lead from its synthetic solution by Stivastav et al.(1994). Murathan and Bütün (2005), studied, removal of lead ions from dilute aqueous solution in packed columns by using natural fruit shells through adsorption . In another study removal of Cu2+, Pb2+ and Zn 2+ from water onto diatomite by adsorption (Murathan and Benli 2005). The study into the sorption of three divalent metal ions-namely cadmium, copper and zinc-onto peat, in single component, binary and ternary systems was made by Mckay and Porter (1997). The Langmuir, Freundlich and Redlich-Peterson equilibrium isotherms for each metal ion in each system have been determined and correlated. The Langmuir isotherms have been found to have the highest regression correlation coefficients. The adsorption process of four metals in solution (Pb, Cu, Zn, Cd) to Chlorella Vulgaris has been described and compared to a previous study using three metals (Pb,Cu,Zn) in solution by Pascucci (1993). As a result of the study, it has been found that the binding capacity of Chlorella Vulgaris to four elements simultaneously increases with time, mass of algae up to a temperature of about 20.0 °C. The effectiveness of peat in adsorbing copper, nickel and zinc from wastewater has been studied by Viraraghavan and Dronamraju (1993). Chen and Wang (2000) carried out the adsorption experiments by pretreated fixed-bed columns for various species of metal ions. Ileri and Akkoyunlu (1999) studied the removal of lead ions from solution by dead Rhizopus arrhizus immobilized in reticulated polyurethane foam sheets. Biosorption of heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and copper on pretreated biomass was studied by Kapoor et al. (1999). In this study the removal of zinc ions from artificial wastewater was investigated. Horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum), oak valonia (Quercus petraea), peduncle of oak valonia, pericarp of oak valonia, seed of oak valonia, diatomite, brownish and beige sepiolites were used as adsorbents. ∗ Corresponding: E-mail: amurathan@gazi.edu.tr; Tel: +903125823551; Fax:+903122308434 # This study has been presented at BIES’08, Giresun-Turkey