Synthesis and Characterization of Surface Modified Nano-Zeolite Fortified with Sulphate and its Sorption and Desorption Pattern

Abstract

<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family: " times="" new="" roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";mso-bidi-font-family:="" mangal;mso-ansi-language:en-gb;mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:="" hi"="" lang="EN-GB">A laboratory study was undertaken in a ball milled natural zeolite (92.6 nm) in order to develop a surface modified nano-zeolite (SMNZ) for slow release of sulphate that can be used in crop production system. The nano-zeolite was surface modified with 135 mM concentration of hexadecyltrimethylammoniumbromide (HDTMABr) for adsorption of anion on zeolite’s surface. On surface modification, imaging the surface morphology of nano-zeolite by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) it was irregular flake like structure. The quantity of SO₄^--adsorbed ranged from 24.45 to 495.66 mM and 7.5 to 639.37 mM and desorbed in the range of 0.38 to 27.01 mM and 0.39 to 48.17 mM SO₄^--for zeolite and SMNZ, respectively. Our data clearly demonstrated that the surface modified nano-zeolite facilitates both higher retention (29%) and release (77%) of SO₄^--in comparison to conventional zeolite.</span>