C-N elemental and isotopic investigation in agricultural soils: Insights on the effects of zeolitite amendments

In this paper we present an elemental and isotopic investigation of carbon and nitrogen in the soil-plant system. Plants grown in an unamended soil were compared to plants grown in a soil amended with natural and NH₄⁺-enriched zeolitites. The aim was to verify that zeolitites at natural state increase the chemical fertilization efficiency and the nitrogen transfer from NH₄⁺-enriched zeolitites to plants. Results showed that plants grown on plots amended with zeolitites have generally a δ¹⁵N approaching that of chemical fertilizers, suggesting an enhanced nitrogen uptake from this specific N source with respect to the unamended plot. The δ¹⁵N of plants grown on NH₄⁺-enriched zeolitites was strongly influenced by pig-slurry δ¹⁵N (employed for the enrichment process), confirming the nitrogen transfer from zeolitites to plants. The different agricultural practices are also reflected in the plant physiology as recorded by the carbon discrimination factor, which generally increases in plots amended with natural zeolitites, indicating better water/nutrient conditions.     

Application of zeolitic volcanic rocks for arsenic removal from water

Natural zeolitic rocks consisting mainly of chabazite-phillipsite, clinoptilolite, and volcanic glass have been evaluated by means of batch methods to remove arsenic from waters with different mineralization degree (from deionized water to natural water with a specific conductivity of 1,600 μS cm^− 1). Arsenic was previously spiked in the studied waters at concentrations of about 100 µg l^− 1 to simulate actual cases. The compositional range of natural waters is representative of large hydrogeochemical regions around the world. The experiments were focussed on the application of natural common zeolitic rocks to water treatment for human consumption. The removal efficiency observed rises, in the better cases, 60–80% for chabazite-phillipsite raw materials whereas is 40–60% for clinoptilolite-bearing ones. The arsenic removal tends to increase with water mineralization degree, independently of the zeolitic rock type. A large zeolitic content in the chabazite-phillipsite raw materials increase the removal. Instead, the inverse situation is observed in the clinoptilolite-bearing rocks. The relevance of the quantitative mineralogical analysis, determining also the content of volcanic glass, as well as the use of natural waters in the removal tests has been demonstrated.     

Lead removal from wastewater using faujasite tuff

The Jordanian chabazite-phillipsite tuff and faujasite-phillipsite tuff have suitable mineralogical and technical properties that enable them to be used for ion-exchange processes. These include suitable grain size and total cation exchange capacity, acceptable zeolite content, good attrition resistance and high packed-bed density. The chabazite-phillipsite tuff (ZE1 and ZE2) has an excellent efficiency to remove Pb and an acceptable efficiency to remove Fe, Cu, Zn and Ni from effluent wastewater of a battery factory and other industries. The faujasite-phillipsite tuff (ZE3) is 6.97 times more efficient than the ZE1 and ZE2. A bed of ZE3 (1,000 kg) loaded in a 1.17-m³ column is capable of cleaning about 2,456 m³ of the effluent from the factory at a cost of US $200/ton. The wastewater is contaminated with 20 ppm Pb in the presence of competing ions including Ca (210 ppm), Na (1,950 ppm) and Fe (169 ppm). This quantity of wastewater is equivalent to 120 working days of effluent discharge from the factory at a flow rate of 20 m³/day.