• The Journal of Natural Sciences
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.67-75
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• 1992

In the our country, especially in Yeongil and Wolsung area, abundant authigenic zeolites are found from the tuffaceous sediments and volcanic rocks of Miocene age showing wide variation in their mineralogy and abundance from horizon to horizon. The principal zeolite species identified are clinopti-lolite. mordenite. heulandite. ferrierite, and erionite. etc. Zeolite minerals are widely used in many countries in the following applications; (a) in air separation adsorption processes; (b)as desiccants; (c)in inorganic building materials; (d)in papermaking; (e)in fertilizers; (f)as soilconditioners-this application is based upon the ability of the zeolite to ion exchange with soil nutrients; (g)in the treatment of radioactive wastes; and (h)as adsorbents for toxic gases, etc. In the present paper, using natural zeolite mordenite treated with IN hydrochloric acid or IN sodium chloride solution as column packings, separation characteristics of argon, nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and methane gases have been studied by gas chromatography. By the use of mordenite treated with hydrochloric acid solution, the tailing peak of methane showed from untreated mordenite was satisfactorily reduced, although it was difficult to separate it from carbon monoxide with a column activated at $300^{\circ}C$. Using a column activated at $350^{\circ}C$, methane could be separated from carbon monoxide easily but only carbon monoxide eluted as a bad defined peak. Mordenite treated with sodium chloride solution was generally similar to chromatograms obtained by using the untreated mordenite. Both the above chemical treatments of mordenite had little effect on the separations of argon and nitrogen. The separations and the HETP values obtained from natural zeolite mordenite treated with continuously hydrochloric acid and sodium chloride solutions were almost identical with those obtained with synthetic molecular sieve 5A zeolite. On the other hand, the efficiency of column was good in the range 20~3Oml/min of the carrier helium gas rate.

• The Journal of Natural Sciences
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.119-127
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• 1996

The effect of sodium hydroxide treatment on some physicochemical properties of zeolite mordenite mineral was studied with chemical analyses, powder X-ray diffraction, thermal analyses, infrared analysis, measurement of carbon dioxide adsorption and gas chromatography. Mordenite mineral from tuffaceous rocks in Yeongil and Wolsung area was used as a starting material and treated with 0.1-5N NaOH aqueous solution at about $95^{\circ}C$ in the water bath for three hours.At the concentration of sodium hydroxide below 0.5N, all chemical compositions in the tuff were virtually insoluble and the mordenite structure did not change. At the concentration above 1N, the chemical compositions such as silica, alumina, etc., were dissolved. The dissolution ratio of silica was lager than that of alumina, and the ratio of silica to alumina in the tuff decreased sharply in the concentration range of 2 to 3N. Intensity of X-ray diffraction peak of mordenite (202) plane and the adsorbed amount of carbon dioxide also decreased with the increasing concentration of sodium hydroxide above 1N. These decreases corresponded to the degree of mordenite structure collapsed.The separation of gas chromatography of nitrogen, oxygen and carbon monoxide was not affected by the sodium hydroxide treatment, but elution peaks of methane and krypton tended to be broadened and their retention time was shortened. The elution peaks of both methane and krypton tended to be overlapped with those of nitrogen and oxygen.