Removal of Nitrate from Groundwater by Zeolite ? A Batch Study

Nitrate is one of the most widespread chemical contaminant found in groundwater across the globe. It may be naturally present in groundwater due to geological formation or due to anthropogenic activities. This contaminant, even if harmless to some extent, can be dangerous beyond the standards of drinking. According to various drinking water standards, Nitrate should not exceed beyond 45 mg/L as NO3& 10 mg/L as NO3-N. To remove the Nitrate contaminants from drinking water, various technologies are available, however adsorption is one of the most reliable and cost effective method. It was observed that, at an adsorbent dosage of 10g/L of natural zeolite at pH 7, temperature 30C and 240 minutes of contact time was able to give 66.05 % removal efficiency. Acid-FeCl3 modified zeolite reduced the adsorbent dosage to 1.5 g/L which provided removal efficiency of 62.5 % at pH 7, temperature 30C and 180 minutes of contact time. Adsorbent dosage of 10 g/L of Acid-FeCl3 modified zeolite increased the removal efficiency to 92.82 % for Nitrate in the filtrate solution.