Ammonia removal from wastewaters using natural Australian zeolite. II. Pilot-scale study using continuous packed column process

A pilot-scale process was designed and operated to investigate the continuous removal of ammonia from sewage using natural zeolite from Australia. The process consisted of a fixed-bed ion-exchange system operated in the downflow mode. Evaluation of the pilot process was initially undertaken for ammonia removal from tap water spiked with ammonium chloride to provide performance data in the absence of competing cations. The performance of the pilot process was then assessed using sewage as feed. Breakthrough curves were constructed for a range of treatment flow rates. Existing models for packed bed performance were shown to be able to predict the breakthrough behavior of the process. The results of a study are presented that show that Australian natural zeolite, clinoptilolite, may be successfully employed in a fixed-bed ion-exchange process to achieve high ammonia removal efficiencies from aqueous solutions at rates commensurate with sand filtration. The rate of uptake of ammonium by the zeolite is sufficient to support a continuous high rate process.