Recovery of Sodium Sulphate from Effluent Generated from Zeolite Y synthesis

Article Sidebar

PDF
Published: 2026-04-02
Keywords:
Nanofiltration, Zeolite, Membrane, Effluent, pH equalization

Main Article Content

Kabiru Musa Aujara
Department of Science Laboratory Technology, Collage of Science and Technology, Jigawa State Polytechnic, Dutse, Nigeria
Abubakar Ali Ibrahim
Department of Science Laboratory Technology, Collage of Science and Technology, Jigawa State Polytechnic, Dutse, Nigeria
Abdulkarim Salawu Ahmed
Department of Chemical Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
Olusegun Ayoola Ajayi
Department of Chemical Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
Ibrahim Abubakar
Department of Science Laboratory Technology, Collage of Science and Technology, Jigawa State Polytechnic, Dutse, Nigeria
Abdulkadir Abdulmalik
Department of Chemistry, Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso Collage of Advance and Remedial Studies, Tudun Wada, Kano State, Nigeria

Abstract

Zeolite production starting from raw kaolin is water intensive process. The process consists of six basic steps: Beneficiation of the raw kaolin, Calcination of beneficiated kaolin to produce metakaolin, dealumination of metakaolin to separate silica from alum, production of aluminum hydroxide from the alum, production of sodium silicate and production of zeolite. In this work, microfiltration, pH equalization and Nanofiltration (NF) were employed in the treatment of the effluent generated in the zeolite plant. Using NF3012 membrane element, the sodium sulphate solution in the effluent was concentrated and collected as retentate and also fresh water (permeate) was generated for reuse in the process. The concentrated solution was further crystallized by evaporation to produce anhydrous sodium sulphate. About 69.6 % of the wastewater recovered as permeate of the NF, and its quality is within the Nigerian industrial standard of water quality. High purity sodium sulphate was also recovered in form of thernadite, based on XRD and XRF results it is 98.1 % thernadite other solids impurities constituted of 1.9 %. The incorporation of microfiltration in the treatment process contributed a lot in improving the product quality in addition to minimizing the tendency of NF membrane fouling. The treatment of the effluents reduces their negative effects on human and the environment. It also generates fresh water and sodium sulphate for reuse. This could contribute towards achieving the objective of sustainable consumption of minerals and water.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Article Details

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2024)

Section

Articles
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Aujara, K. M., Ibrahim, A. A., Ahmed, A. S., Ajayi, O. A., Abubakar, I., & Abdulmalik , A. (2026). Recovery of Sodium Sulphate from Effluent Generated from Zeolite Y synthesis. International Journal Of Research And Technopreneurial Innovations, 1(1), 78-84. https://ijrti.com.ng/index.php/home/article/view/22

References

[1] Shen, W., & Shen, B. (2011). Synthesis and characterization of composite structure zeolite Y. Adv. Mater. Res., 233–235(1), 1790–1793. https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.233-235.1790

[2] Wdowin, M., & Bandura, L. (2015). Erratum: The conversion technology of fly ash into zeolites (Clean Techn). Clean Techn., 16(March), 2014–2015. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-014-0719-6

[3] Barbosa, A. S., Barbosa, A. S., & Rodrigues, M. G. F. (2019). Y-type zeolite membranes: Synthesis by secondary method and application in treatment of oily effluents. Mater. Sci. Forum, 958 MSF, 23–28. https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.958.23

[4] Alkhouzaam, A., & Qiblawey, H. (2021). Functional GO-based membranes for water treatment and desalination: Fabrication methods, performance and advantages. A review. Chemosphere, 274, 129853. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.129853

[5] Faghihian, H., & Godazandeha, N. (2009). Synthesis of nano crystalline zeolite Y from bentonite. J. Porous Mater., 16(3), 331–335. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10934-008-9204-0

[6] Anis, S. F., Lalia, B. S., Hashaikeh, R., & Hilal, N. (2020). Breaking through the selectivity-permeability tradeoff using nano zeolite-Y for micellar enhanced ultrafiltration dye rejection application. Sep. Purif. Technol., 242, 116824. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2020.116824

[7] Abba, M. U., et al. (2021). Novel PVDF-PVP Hollow Fiber Membrane Augmented with TiO2 Nanoparticles: Preparation, Characterization and Application for Copper Removal from Leachate, 1–17.

[8] Salahudeen, N., & Ahmed, A. S. (2017). Synthesis of hexagonal zeolite Y from Kankara kaolin using a split technique. J. Incl. Phenom. Macrocycl. Chem., 87(1–2), 149–156. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10847-016-0686-0

[9] Sanaeepur, H., Kargari, A., & Nasernejad, B. (2014). Aminosilane-functionalization of a nanoporous Y-type zeolite for application in a cellulose acetate based mixed matrix membrane for CO2 separation. RSC Adv., 4(109), 63966–63976. https://doi.org/10.1039/c4ra08783f

[10] Mahdavi Far, R., Van der Bruggen, B., Verliefde, A., & Cornelissen, E. (2022). A review of zeolite materials used in membranes for water purification: history, applications, challenges and future trends. J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol., 97(3), 575–596. https://doi.org/10.1002/jctb.6963

[11] Solutions, S. P., et al. Applications of micro size anorganic membrane of clay, zeolite and active carbon as filters for peat water purification. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1450/1/012010

[12] Bawa, S., Ahmed, A., Okonkwo, P., & Waziri, S. (2017). Development of pilot scale dealumination unit of 2.5 kg metakaolin per batch capacity. Niger. J. Technol., 36(3), 829–834. https://doi.org/10.4314/njt.v36i3.24

[13] Clet, G., Jansen, J. C., & Van Bekkum, H. (1999). Synthesis of a zeolite Y coating on stainless steel support. Chem. Mater., 11(7), 1696–1702. https://doi.org/10.1021/cm980751o

[14] Bonaccorsi, L., Calabrese, L., & Proverbio, E. (2011). Low temperature single-step synthesis of zeolite Y coatings on aluminium substrates. Microporous Mesoporous Mater., 144(1–3), 40–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micromeso.2011.04.014

[15] Shi, Y., Meng, X., Yao, L., & Tian, M. (2021). A full-scale study of nanofiltration: Separation and recovery of NaCl and Na2SO4 from coal chemical industry wastewater. Desalination, 517(March), 115239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2021.115239

[16] Li, W., Van Der Bruggen, B., & Luis, P. (2015). Recovery of Na2CO3 and Na2SO4 from mixed solutions by membrane crystallization. Chem. Eng. Res. Des., 106, 315–326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2015.12.022

[17] Berger, C., Gläser, R., Rakoczy, R. A., & Weitkamp, J. (2005). The synthesis of large crystals of zeolite Y re-visited. Microporous Mesoporous Mater., 83(1–3), 333–344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micromeso.2005.04.009

[18] Muhamad, N., Abdullah, N., Rahman, M. A., Abas, K. H., & Aziz, A. A. (2018). Removal of nickel from aqueous solution using supported zeolite-Y hollow fiber membranes.

[19] Gawaad, R. S., Sharma, S. K., & Sambi, S. S. (2011). Sodium Sulphate Recovery from Industrial Wastewater Using Nano-Membranes: a Review. 3(May), 392–398.

[20] Mohammed, S., Nassrullah, H., Aburabie, J., & Hashaikeh, R. (2022). Fabrication of Thin Film Composite Membranes on Nanozeolite Modified Support Layer for Tailored Nanofiltration Performance.

[21] Critical Review (2016). The Global Rise of Zero Liquid Discharge for Wastewater Management: Drivers, Technologies. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b01000

[22] Man, H. C., Abba, M. U., Abdulsalam, M., Azis, S., Idris, A. I., & Hamzah, M. H. (2020). Utilization of Nano-TiO2 as an Influential Additive for Complementing Separation Performance of a Hybrid PVDF-PVP Hollow Fiber: Boron Removal from Leachate.

[23] Wu, D., Han, Y., Zhao, L., Salim, W., Vakharia, V., & Ho, W. S. W. (2018). Scale-up of zeolite-Y/polyethersulfone substrate for composite membrane fabrication in CO2 separation. J. Memb. Sci., 562(May), 56–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2018.05.021

[24] Yousef, S., Tuckute, S., Tonkonogovas, A., & Mohamed, A. (2021). Ultra-permeable CNTs/PES membranes with a very low CNTs content and high H2/N2 and CH4/N2 selectivity for clean energy extraction applications. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2021.10.125

[25] Taufiqurrahmi, N., Mohamed, A. R., & Bhatia, S. (2011). Nanocrystalline zeolite Y: Synthesis and characterization. IOP Conf. Ser. Mater. Sci. Eng., 17(1). https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/17/1/012030

[26] Traps, Z. (n.d.). Zeolite membranes for chemical separation Behind the Research. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.8b20151

[27] Qin, L., et al. (2016). Oriented Clay Nanotube Membrane Assembled on Microporous Polymeric Substrates. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6b12858

[28] Mu, Y., Zhu, K., Luan, J., Zhang, S., Zhang, C., & Na, R. (2019). Fabrication of hybrid ultrafiltration membranes with improved water separation properties by incorporating environmentally friendly taurine modified hydroxyapatite nanotubes. J. Memb. Sci., 577(January), 274–284. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2019.01.043

[29] Wu, H., Zheng, B., Zheng, X., Wang, J., Yuan, W., & Jiang, Z. (2007). Surface-modified Y zeolite-filled chitosan membrane for direct methanol fuel cell. J. Power Sources, 173(2), 842–852. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2007.08.020

[30] Ramasubramanian, K., Severance, M. A., Dutta, P. K., & Ho, W. S. W. (2015). Fabrication of zeolite/polymer multilayer composite membranes for carbon dioxide capture: Deposition of zeolite particles on polymer supports. J. Colloid Interface Sci., 452, 203–214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2015.04.014

[31] Quist-Jensen, C. A., Macedonio, F., Horbez, D., & Drioli, E. (2016). Reclamation of sodium sulfate from industrial wastewater by using membrane distillation and membrane crystallization. Desalination, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2016.05.007

[32] Rasouli, Y., Abbasi, M., & Hashemifard, S. A. (2017). Oily wastewater treatment by adsorption-membrane filtration hybrid process using powdered activated carbon, natural zeolite powder and low cost ceramic membranes. Water Sci. Technol., 76(4), 895–908. https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2017.247

[33] Darmayanti, R. F., et al. (2023). Performance of modified hollow fiber membrane silver nanoparticles-zeolites Na–Y/PVDF composite used in membrane bioreactor for industrial wastewater treatment. Heliyon, 9(11), e21350. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21350

Similar Articles

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.