• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.523-529
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• 2023

Cemented uranium tailings backfill created from alkali-activated slag (CUTB) is an effective method of disposing of uranium tailings. Using some environmental functional minerals with ion exchange, adsorption, and solidification abilities as backfill modified materials may improve the leaching resistance of the CUTB. Natural zeolite, which has good ion exchange and adsorption characteristics, is selected as the backfill modified material, and it is added to the backfill materials with cementitious material proportions of 4%, 8%, 12%, and 16% to prepare CUTB mixtures with environmental functional minerals. After the addition of natural zeolite, the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of the CUTB decreases, but the leaching resistance of the CUTB increases. When the natural zeolite content is 12%, the UCS reaches the minimum value of 8.95 MPa, and the concentration of uranium in the leaching solution is 0.28-8.07 mg/L, the leaching rate R₄₂ is 9.61×10^-7 cm/d, and cumulative leaching fraction P₄₂ is 8.53×10^-4 cm, which shows that the alkali-activated slag cementitious material has a good curing effect on the CUTB, and the addition of environmental functional minerals helps to further improve the leaching resistance of the CUTB, but it reduces the UCS to an extent.

• Clean Technology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.123-133
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• 2024

Zeolite template carbon (ZTC) was synthesized as an adsorbent to remove low-concentration CH₄ from the atmosphere. The synthesis of ZTC was performed using CH₄ and C₂H₂ as carbon precursors and their impact on adsorption was investigated. ZTC was also synthesized using Y zeolite ion-exchanged with CaCl₂ and LiCl as templates to investigate the effect of using metals in ion exchange. The comparison of the carbon precursors revealed that C₂H₂ had a higher carbon yield than CH₄. The synthesized ZTC exhibited developed micropores due to carbon deposition deep inside the micropores of the zeolite template. The kinetic diameter of C₂H₂ (0.33 nm) is smaller than that of CH₄ (0.38 nm), which allowed for its deposition. The study compared metal precursors used for ion exchange and confirmed that the CaCl₂-based ZTC developed more micropores compared to the LiCl-based ZTC. The ion-exchanged Ca inhibited pore blocking by the carbon precursor, allowing it to enter the pores. The ability of synthesized ZTC to adsorb N₂ and CH₄ at 298 K was investigated. The results showed that CH₄ had a higher overall adsorption amount than N₂. The sample synthesized using C₂H₂ and CaY exhibited the highest N₂ and CH₄ adsorption capacity. However, the sample synthesized with CH₄ had the highest CH₄/N₂ gas uptake ratio, which is a crucial factor in designing an adsorption process. The observed difference was likely caused by the underdevelopment of ultrafine pores that are associated with N₂ adsorption. This resulted in a reduction of N₂ adsorption, leading to an increase in CH₄/N₂ separation.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.103-107
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• 2008

Membrane process has been focused as an alternative separation process because not only it exhibits a high selectivity compared with a traditional distillation process, but also it is known to be an energy saving separation process. Inorganic membrane, especially zeolite membrane, has been studied since it can be operated in severe conditions compared to the organic membranes. Recently, new zeolite materials are tested as an inorganic membrane material to overcome disadvantages of existing zeolite membranes. Kalsilite can be used as an inorganic membrane material for gas separation and selective water separation from water/organic mixtures because it is expected to be hydrophilic resulted from Si/Al ratio of 1 like zeolite 4A and has a narrow pore size of 0.36 nm. In this study, kalsilite was synthesized by a new economical hydrothermal process using Si : Al : K : $H_2O$ mole ratio of 1 : 1 : 8 : 60. The synthesized kalsilite powder was confirmed by XRD and has a mean diameter of $2.73{\mu}m$. The vapor adsorption test showed the synthesized kalsilite is hydrophilic.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.816-822
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• 2011

Pervaporation is known to be a low energy consumption process since it needs only an electric power to maintain the permeate side in vacuum. Also, the pervaporation is an environmentally clean technology because it does not use the third material such as an entrainer for either an azeotropic distillation or an extractive distillation. In this study, Silicalite-1 particles are hydrothermally synthesized and polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS)-zeolite composite membranes are prepared with a mixture of synthesized Silicalite-1 particles and PDMS-polymer. They are used to separate n-butanol from its aqueous solution. Pervaporation characteristics such as a permeation flux and a separation factor are investigated as a function of the feed concentration and the weight % of Silicalite-1 particles in the membrane. A 1,000 $cm^3$ aqueous solution containing butanol of low mole fraction such as order of 0.001 was used as a feed to the membrane cell while the pressure of the permeation side was kept about 0.2~0.3 torr. When the butanol concentration in the feed solution was 0.015 mole fraction, the flux of n-butanol significantly increased from 14.5 g/ $m^2$/hr to 186.3 g/$m^2$/hr as the Silicalite-1 content increased from 0 wt% to 10 wt%, indicating that the Silicalite-1 molecular sieve improved the membrane permselectivity from 4.8 to 11.8 due to its unique crystalline microporous structure and its strong hydrophobicity. Consequently, the concentration of n-butanol in the permeate substantially increased from 0.07 to 0.15 mole fraction. This composite membrane could be potentially appliable for separation of n-butanol from insitu fermentation broth where n-butanol is produced at a fairly low concentration of 0.015 mole fraction.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.1752-1757
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• 2001

The present study was conducted to assess the dietary effect of T-2 toxin on the antioxidant systems of the liver in growing quail and to comparatively evaluate the protective properties of two different mycotoxin-adsorbent additives, Mycosorb and zeolite, in preventing inhibition of the antioxidant system. Four groups of 4 day old quail were formed with 20 birds in each group. The birds were maintained on the floor for the course of the study. The three treatment diets consisted of the basal diet with T-2 toxin added in the form of Fusarium sporotrichioides culture (8.1 mg/kg feed), T-2 toxin (8.1 mg/kg) plus zeolite (30 g/kg feed), and T-2 toxin (8.1 mg/kg) plus Mycosorb (1 g/kg feed). After 30 days of feeding (34 days old) all birds were sacrificed and liver samples for biochemical analyses were collected from five quail in each of the four groups. Antioxidant concentrations were evaluated by HPLC-based methods. Inclusion of T-2 toxin in the quail diet was associated with a significant (p<0.05) decrease in concentrations of all forms of antioxidants studied, including ${\alpha}$- and ${\gamma}$-tocopherols, ascorbic acid, retinol and retinyl esters. At the same time, liver susceptibility to lipid peroxidation significantly (p<0.05) increased. Inclusion of zeolite in the quail diet at the level of 3% was ineffective in preventing antioxidant depletion in the liver by mycotoxicosis. In contrast, Mycosorb in the diet at a 0.1% level was able to significantly inhibit liver antioxidant depletion and as a result decreased lipid peroxidation in the liver. Concentrations of all forms of antioxidants studied were significantly higher in the livers of the quails fed the basal and T-2 toxin/Mycosorb combination in comparison to birds fed the basal with T-2 toxin alone.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.13-26
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• 2018

This research was conducted to elucidate the removal mechanism of heavy metals and sulfate ion from acid mine drainage(AMD) by porous zeolite-slag ceramics (ZS ceramics) packed in a column reactor system. The average removal efficiencies of heavy metals and sulfate ion from AMD by the 1:3(Z:S) porous ZS ceramics in the column reactor under the HRT condition of 24 hours were Al 97.5%, As 98.8%, Cd 86.1%, Cu 96.2%, Fe 99.7%, Mn 64.1%, Pb 97.2%, Zn 66.7%, and $SO_4{^{2-}}$ 76.0% during 121 days of operation time. The XRD analysis showed that the ferric iron from AMD could be removed by adsorption and/or ion-exchange on the porous ZS ceramics. In addition it was known that Al, As, Cu, Mn, and Zn could adsorb or coprecipitate on the surface of Fe precipitates such as schwertmannite, ferrihydrite, or goethite. The EDS analysis revealed that Al, Fe, and Mn, which were of relatively high concentration in the AMD, would be adsorbed and/or ion-exchanged on the porous ZS ceramics and also exhibited that Al, Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn could be precipitated as the form of metal hydroxide or sulfate and adsorbed or coprecipitated on the surface of Fe precipitates. The microscopic results on the porous ZS ceramics and precipitated sludge in a column reactor system suggested that the heavy metals and sulfate ion from AMD would be eliminated by the multiple mechanisms of coprecipitation, adsorption, ion-exchange as well as precipitation.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.548-552
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• 2010

This study focused on the development of effective adsorbent to remove acetylenes for the purification of isoprene. The adsorbents with various pore sizes from $4{\AA}$ to $5{\AA}$ were prepared to investigate the effect of pore size on selective adsorption of acetylene as an impurity. The pore size of zeolite A was adjusted by ion-exchange between Na and Ca ions. The pore size of adsorbents has affected the removal of acetylenes selectively because of the kinetic diameter of acetylenes, such as 2-methyl-1-butyne-3-yen (IPA) and 2-butyne. In a batch adsorption experiment, 5A zeolite with pore size of $5{\AA}$ showed the highest removal capacity of 2-butyne. However, IPA was hardly removed from isoprene by the A-type zeolites. For the adsorption isotherm, modified Langmuir model was well fitted with 2-butyne adsorption. Moreover, the regeneration of adsorbent was carried out to determine optimum method. The adsorbent heated for 12 h at $300^{\circ}C$ was regenerated significantly.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.190-193
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• 1986

The structure of partially $Ag^+$-exchanged zeolite 4A, $Ag_{7.6}Na_{4.4}-A$, vacuum dehydrated at $370^{\circ}C$, has been determined by single-crystal x-ray diffraction techniques in the cubic space group, Pm3m (a = 12.311(1)${\AA}$) at $24(1)^{\circ}}C$. The structure was refined to the final error indices $R_1$ = $R_2$ (weighted) = 0.064 using 266 independent reflections for which $I_0$>$3{\sigma}(I_0)$. Three $Na^+$ ions occupy the 3 8-ring sites, and the remaining ions, 1.4 $Na^+$ and 6.6 $Ag^+$, fill the 8 6-ring sites; each $Ag^+$ ion is nearly in the [111] plane of its 3 O(3) ligands, and each $Na^+$ ion is 0.9${\AA}$ from its corresponding plane, on the large-cavity side. One reduced silver atom per unit cell was found inside the sodalite unit. It was presumably formed from the reduction of a $Ag^+$ ion by an oxide ion of a residual water molecule or of the zeolite framework. It may be present as a hexasilver cluster in 1/6 of the sodalite units, or, most attractively among several alternatives, as an isolated Ag atom coordinated to 4 Ag ions in each sodalite unit to give $(Ag_5)^{4+}$, symmetry 4mm.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.259-264
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• 2011

Gas hydrate is formed by physical binding between water molecule and gas such as methane, ethane, propane, or carbon dioxide, etc., which is captured in the cavities of water molecule under the specific temperature and pressure. $1\;m^3$ hydrate of pure methane can be decomposed to the methane gas of $172\;m^3$ and water of $0.8\;m^3$ at standard condition. If this characteristic of hydrate is reversely utilized, natural gas is fixed into water in the form of hydrate solid. Therefore, the hydrate is considered to be a great way to transport and store of natural gas in large quantity. Especially the transportation cost is known to be 18~25% less than the liquefied transportation. However, when methane gas hydrate is artificially formed, its reaction time may be too long and the gas consumption in water becomes relatively low, because the reaction rate between water and gas is low. Therefore, for the practical purpose in the application, the present investigation focuses on the rapid production of hydrates and the increment of the amount of captured gas by adding zeolite into pure water. The results show that when the zeolite of 0.01 wt% was added to distilled water, the amount of captured gas during the formation of methane hydrate was about 4.5 times higher than that in distilled water, and the methane hydrate formation time decreased at the same subcooling temperature.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.73-78
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• 2002

Four inorganic packing materials (zeocarbon, porous celite, porous glass, zeolite) and a earthworm cast were compared with regard to the removal of ammonia in a biofilter inoculated with earthworm cast. Physical adsorption of ammonia on packing materials were negligible except zeocarbon (23.5 g-$NH_3$/kg), and cell immobilization capacity have similar values irrespective of packing materials. Pressure drops of the packed bed were in order of earthworm cast zeocarbon zeolite porous glass porous. The maximum elimination capacity ($g-Nkg^{-1}$ $d^{-1}$ ) of ammonia, which were based on a unit volume of packing material, were in order of zeocarbon (526) earthworm cast (220) porous celite (93) > zeolite (68) > porous glass (53). By using kinetic analysis, the maximum removal rates ($V_{m}$ ) and the saturation constant ($K_{s}$ ) for ammonia were determined, and zeocarbon showed superior performance among the five materials.