Title: 11 Å tobermorite ion exchanger from recycled container glass

Authors: Nichola J. Coleman

Addresses: School of Science, University of Greenwich, Chatham Maritime, Kent, ME4 4TB, UK

Abstract: Waste container glass cullet has been evaluated as a feedstock material for the hydrothermal synthesis of tobermorite, a cation exchanger. Accordingly, it is demonstrated that essentially phase-pure 11 Å tobermorite, Ca₅Si₆O₁₆ (OH) ₂ · 4H₂O, can be obtained from a stoicheiometrically-adjusted mixture of waste glass cullet and calcium oxide in aqueous sodium hydroxide at 100ºC. A batch sorption study indicated that the cullet-derived tobermorite is highly effective in the removal of Pb²⁺ (1.66 mmol g^-1) and Cd²⁺ (0.48 mmol g^-1) from solution. Its ion exchange characteristics are compared with those of other waste-derived sorbents and potential applications are discussed.

Keywords: sorbents; hydrothermal synthesis; glass cullet; recycling; ion exchange; calcium silicate; pseudo-second-order kinetic modelling; recycled container glass; feedstock material; hydrothermal synthesis; tobermorite; batch sorption.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2011.042642

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2011 Vol.8 No.3/4, pp.366 - 382

Published online: 24 Jan 2015 *

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