Evaluating of effectiveness of a natural and modified surface mexican clinoptilolite-rich tuff in removing phenol and p-nitrophenol from aqueous solutions

Removal of phenol (Phen) andp-nitrophenol (p-NPhen) from aqueous solutions onto sodium modified (ZG-Na) and surface modified (ZG-HDTMA) natural zeolite has been investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique characterizations show that clinoptilolite is the major phase in zeolitic rock. Batch system was considered to determine the kinetics and isotherm type of the adsorption of NOJ by the ZG-Na and ZG-HDTMA. Results suggest a better fit to the adsorption data than the pseudo-first order kinetic model. It seems that the Langmuir model best describes the experimental data. p-NPhen is selectively adsorbed by both ZG-HDTMA and ZG-Na.