Synthesis of porous magnetic zeolite-based material and its performance on removal of Cd2+ion and methylene blue from aqueous solution

In this study, the natural clinoptilolite zeolite was hydrothermally treated and then combined with porous silica -coated magnetic particles to prepare a porous magnetic zeolite-based material. Process parameters such as NaOH concentration, hydrothermal temperature and time, pH value, and Fe3O4/Na2SiO3 ratio were optimized. XRD, XPS, N2 adsorption-desorption technique, SEM-EDX, TEM, FTIR, etc. were employed to investigate the compo-sition and structure of the materials. Cd2+ ion and methylene blue were adopted to evaluate the contamination removal performance of the materials. The results showed that hydrothermal treatment under an alkaline environment could transform clinoptilolite to Na-P zeolite with a low Si/Al ratio and relatively high Cd2+ adsorption capacity. Porous silica-coated magnetite loading could significantly increase the specific surface area of the material and render it magnetic. The as-prepared porous magnetic zeolite-based material exhibited much higher Cd2+ ion and methylene blue removal performance than the raw natural clinoptilolite zeolite.

Automated summary

The study found that the porous magnetic zeolite-based material, utilizing porous silica-coated magnetic particles as a carrier, exhibited excellent Cd2+ ion and methylene blue removal performance compared to the raw natural clinoptilolite zeolite.