The contamination of soil and water bodies with mercury from anthropogenic sources such as mining and industry activities causes negative effect for living organisms due to the process of bioaccumulation and biomagnification through the food chain. Therefore, the need for remediation of contaminated areas is extremely necessary and very desirable when it is cost-effective by using low-cost sorbents. This paper compares the sorption abilities of natural and iron-modified zeolite towards Hg(II) ions from aqueous solutions. The influence of pH, solid/liquid ratio (S/L), contact time, and initial concentration on the sorption efficiency onto both zeolites was investigated. At the optimal pH = 2 and S/L = 10, the maximum amount of sorbed Hg(II) is 0.28 mmol/g on the natural zeolite and 0.54 mmol/g on the iron-modified zeolite. It was found that rate-controlling step in mass transfer is intraparticle diffusion accompanied by film diffusion. Ion exchange as a main mechanism, accompanied with surface complexation and co-precipitation were included in the Hg(II) sorption onto both zeolite samples. This is confirmed by the determination of the amount of sorbed Hg(II) and the amount of released exchangeable cations from the zeolite structure as well as by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS) of saturated zeolite samples. In a wide pH range, 4.01 ≤ pH ≤ 11.08, the leaching of Hg(II) was observed in the amount of only 0.28–0.78% from natural zeolite and 0.07–0.51% from iron-modified zeolite indicating that both zeolites could be used for remediation purposes while the results suggest that modification significantly improves the sorption properties of zeolite.

In recent decades, massive exploitation of fossil fuels caused a growing demand for the production of energies from renewable sources. Hydrochar obtained from waste biomass via hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) possesses good potentials as a biofuel. Therefore, we performed HTC of corn cob, paulownia leaves, and olive pomace at different temperatures (180, 220, and 260oC). The main goal of this study was to comparatively evaluate the influence of HTC conditions on the structure and fuel characteristics of the obtained solids. The results showed that the yields of hydrochar decrease significantly with increasing temperature in all samples. The carbon content and higher heating value increased and reached the highest values in hydrochars obtained at 260?C, while the content of volatile matter decreased. Furthermore, the Van Krevelen diagram reveals that the transformation of feedstock to lignite-like products upon HTC was achieved. In this study, the results showed that processes of dehydration and decarboxylation during HTC provoke intensive biomass transformation and that hydrochars obtained at higher temperatures have significantly enhanced fuel properties and fewer volatiles compared to the feedstock.

Sulfur-impregnated zeolite has been obtained from the natural zeolite clinoptilolite by chemical modification with Na₂S at 150 °C. The purpose of zeolite impregnation was to enhance the sorption of Hg(II) from aqueous solutions. Chemical analysis, acid and basic properties determined by Bohem’s method, chemical behavior at different pH_o values, zeta potential, cation-exchange capacity (CEC), specific surface area, X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), as well as thermogravimetry with derivative thermogravimetry (TG-DTG) were used for detailed comparative mineralogical and physico-chemical characterization of natural and sulfur-impregnated zeolites. Results revealed that the surface of the natural zeolite was successfully impregnated with sulfur species in the form of FeS and CaS. Chemical modification caused an increase in basicity and the net negative surface charge due to an increase in oxygen-containing functional groups as well as a decrease in specific surface area and crystallinity due to the formation of sulfur-containing clusters at the zeolite surface. The sorption of Hg(II) species onto the sulfur-impregnated zeolite was affected by the pH, solid/liquid ratio, initial Hg(II) concentration, and contact time. The optimal sorption conditions were determined as pH 2, a solid/liquid ratio of 10 g/L, and a contact time of 800 min. The maximum obtained sorption capacity of the sulfur-impregnated zeolite toward Hg(II) was 1.02 mmol/g. The sorption mechanism of Hg(II) onto the sulfur-impregnated zeolite involves electrostatic attraction, ion exchange, and surface complexation, accompanied by co-precipitation of Hg(II) in the form of HgS. It was found that sulfur-impregnation enhanced the sorption of Hg(II) by 3.6 times compared to the natural zeolite. The leaching test indicated the retention of Hg(II) in the zeolite structure over a wide pH range, making this sulfur-impregnated sorbent a promising material for the remediation of a mercury-polluted environment.

The sorption of Cu ions on pure fly ash-based geopolymer, fly ash-based geopolymer with Pb ions addition (modified) and zeolite NaX was studied. Taguchi's approach was applied to determine the impact of solute concentration (c), temperature (T), mixing time (t) and sorbent type (S) on the sorption of Cu ions onto different sorbents under batch conditions. Optimum experimental conditions and influence of controllable factors were determined using the larger-the-better approach. The influence in descending order is c > S > t > T, for both removal and loading. Also, the impact of sorbent type and solute concentration on the process equilibrium was examined. The equilibrium amount of Cu retained on the sorbents in equilibrium (qe) was as follows: pure geopolymer – 1.169 mmol g−1, modified geopolymer – 1.186 mmol g−1, and zeolite NaX – 1.695 mmol g−1. The experimental data were modelled using Jovanovic, Khan, Baudu, and Fritz-Schlünder isotherm models and their goodness of fit were compared. The Baudu isotherm model was the most useful in predicting the equilibrium of Cu sorption on pure and modified geopolymer. Goodness of fit of the selected isotherm models for the sorption of Cu ions on zeolite NaX was in the order: Fritz-Schlünder > Khan > Jovanovic > Baudu.