Glauconitic greensand: A possible filter of heavy metal cations from polluted waters

Experiments using distilled water, spiked with heavy metal cations and passed through a filtration system composed of greensand containing 80% glauconite at a rate of 2–4 ml/min, showed: (1) starting fluids containing Cd, Co, Cu, Pb, Mn, Ni, Ag, or Zn had an average of 90% of the contaminating cation removed from acidic solutions and an average of 84% removed from the basic solutions; and, (2) filtration through greensand tended to neutralize both acidic and basic solutions. The removal of the contaminant cation from starting fluids containing K, Na, Ca, Mg, Fe, Si, or Al (the principal constituents of glauconite plus Ca from shell material) is not as consistently effective as for the first named metals.