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Extent of zeolite synthesis via alkaline fusion from tailings dam sediments

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Abstract

Zeolite was synthesized via alkaline fusion from the tailings dam sediments of a sand mine in southern Brazil. The sediments are composed of a mixture of illite, kaolinite, vermiculite, quartz and K-feldspar yielding a silty-loam texture. The extent of zeolite synthesis was tested under varied NaOH:sediment ratio, temperature and fusion time. At the NaOH:sediment ratio of 8:5 and fusion temperature of 600 °C, all minerals were dissolved and converted in faujasite, except a quartz residue of less than 5 wt%. The synthetic faujasite shows intergrown octahedral habit, grain size < 2 µm, specific surface area of 760 m2 g−1 and cation exchange capacity of 4.6 cmol kg−1. Experiments at lower NaOH:sediment ratio produced lower amounts of zeolite from 6:5 to 5:5 and 4:5, faujasite fraction declined from 73 to 50 wt%. At an NaOH:sediment ratio of 3:5, the faujasite fraction dropped to 0.7 wt%, below which no faujasite was formed. By decreasing temperature from 550 to 250 °C, a smooth decrease in faujasite formation was observed, from 64 to 29 wt%. A synthetic analogous of ferrierite appeared in the runs at 300 and 250 °C. Experiments using prolonged heating (up to 12 h) at low temperatures (300, 200 °C) and low NaOH:sediment ratio (3:5) did not enhance zeolite formation. Kaolinite and vermiculite were dissolved in all runs, while residual illite was ubiquitous and residual quartz was present in all experiments.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the XRD data kindly provided by L. Gobbo (Malvern Panalytical) and the XRF analysis by M. Pecchio (ABCP São Paulo). We thank R. Contessoto for support in the acquisition of SEM images. The study was sponsored by a Fapesp Grant (#2014/15748-3) to M. T. A. G. Yogi.

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  1. Instituto de Geociências, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Lago, 562, São Paulo, SP, CEP 05508-080, Brazil

    Fábio Ramos Dias de Andrade, Maria Thereza Akemi Guimarães Yogi & Elton Barbosa Gomes

  2. Instituto de Ciências Ambientais, Químicas e Farmacêuticas, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Rua São Nicolau, 210, Diadema, SP, CEP 09913-030, Brazil

    Mirian Chieko Shinzato

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  1. Fábio Ramos Dias de Andrade
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de Andrade, F.R.D., Yogi, M.T.A.G., Gomes, E.B. et al. Extent of zeolite synthesis via alkaline fusion from tailings dam sediments. Environ Earth Sci 79, 379 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-020-09118-9

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