DYNA

http://dyna.medellin.unal.edu.co/

The role of industrial minerals in the treatment and remediation of

industrial wastewater
Alejandra Hernández Hincapié a & Raquel Naranjo Echeverri b
a
Facultad de Minas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellín, Colombia. alhernandezhi@unal.edu.co
b
Centro Editorial de la Facultad de Minas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellín, Colombia. rnaranjoe@unal.edu.co

Abstract
The excessive pollution of the water reaches today worrying figures, this affects the environment and human life since it is a
fundamental resource, taking into account that only about 1% of the water in the earth is potentially consumable and that this
amount is now reduced to a third by the current deterioration [1]. Industrial activities are the ones that generate in greater
quantities, inorganic and organic pollutant components, which are generally toxic, to the water. The treatment of wastewater
is currently a subject of wide development and certain minerals are the main protagonists of the process; from the research,
it has been found efficient methodologies such as the adsorption of components and deionization of the contaminated water.
In the following article, a review of methodologies where clay minerals as bentonite, zeolites and ilmenite are used for the
extraction of polluting compounds from wastewater to prevent these residues from affecting the environment again.

Keywords: Wastewater remediation; heavy metals; organic pollutants; inorganic contaminants; zeolites, bentonite; ilmenite;
adsorption.

Resumen
La contaminación desmesurada de las aguas hoy alcanza cifras preocupantes, esto afecta el medio ambiente y la vida humana
dado que este es un recurso fundamental, teniendo en cuenta que solo cerca del 1% del agua en el planeta tierra es
potencialmente consumible y que esta cantidad se reduce a un tercio por el deterioro actual [1]. Las actividades industriales
son las que aportan en mayores cantidades componentes contaminantes inorgánicos y orgánicos generalmente tóxicos a las
aguas. El tratamiento de aguas residuales actualmente es un tema de amplio desarrollo y ciertos minerales son los principales
protagonistas en estos procesos, a partir de la investigación se han encontrado metodologías eficientes como la adsorción de
componentes y deionización de aguas contaminadas. En el presente artículo se realizará una revisión de metodologías donde
se emplean minerales arcillosos como la bentonita, zeolitas e ilmenita para la extracción de compuestos contaminantes de
aguas residuales para evitar que estos residuos vuelvan a afectar el medio ambiente.

Palabras clave: Remediación de aguas residuales; metales pesados; contaminantes orgánicos; contaminantes inorgánicos;
zeolitas, bentonita; montmorillonita; ilmenita; adsorción.

1. Introduction
It is well known that, water is the sustenance of life, and
the consumption of this resource increases over time due to
population growth, industries such as pharmaceuticals,
cosmetics, textiles, mining, among others are one of the main
generators of pollutants in wastewater, which in the short and
long term is harmful to humanity; 2.18 million people die
each year from the ingestion of poor water [2], therefore, the
remediation, treatment and purification of water has become
a priority today, technologies to recycle and/or treat properly
are increasingly abundant and effective, in order to be
reintegrated into the environment without causing damage or
harm. The methods for the treatment of residual waters are
more and more innovative and it advances along with the
technology from the research in this field. In this case, it is
questioned in what way and what are the industrial minerals
that could be key elements for the treatment and remediation
of industrial water? In response, the research has allowed the
development of numerous methods used for the removal of
contaminants through a variety of minerals.
Heavy metals such as 𝑃𝑏 2+ 𝑁𝑖 2+ , 𝐶𝑜 2+ , 𝐶𝑑 2+
, 𝐴𝑠 2+ , 𝐶𝑢 2+ , 𝐻𝑔 2+, 𝐹𝑒 2+ , 𝑍𝑛 2+ , 𝑀𝑛 2+, among others, are
the main pollutants which the fertilizer, metal, mining, and
other industries contribute to the planet. Organic pollutants
are also abundant and harmful in wastewater; All this,
reduces the water reserves for the future. By 2030, it expects
the world population to reach up to 8,500 million, and

© The authors; licensee Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

DYNA 81 (184), pp. 1-2. April, 2014. Medellín. ISSN 0012-7353 Printed, ISSN 2346-2183 Online
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because of this, the planet could be under a great water the zeolite will not be able to absorb in great quantity [5] [6]
shortage. [3] Types of water such as hospital water are treated [7] [8].
like the rest of urban waste water, in the WWTPs of each city,
which is not an adequate procedure, since the water from the
hospitals require a more intense treatment due to the
components derived from the pharmaceutical industry that
water could bring.
Water pollution grows as fast as the demand of new
products from the consumer market and this makes the
treatment and remediation of wastewater increasingly
complex; however, the different industrial minerals offer
very effective solutions to this problem. In bellow, some
industrial minerals will be mentioned, which due to their
properties are perfect filters for the remediation of residual
waters, the processes that must be used for the
implementation of such minerals in the treatment procedures
will be detailed.

2. Discussion and results

2.1 Zeolite
It is a mineral belonging to the family of hydrated
aluminosilicates formed by silicon and oxygen tetrahedra,
where eventually silicon can be replaced by aluminum ions,
it has some important properties that explain why it is a good
mineral to retain molecules in its structure. These properties
are: its adsorption capacity (I), which is defined as a molecule
ability to retain another molecule on its surface through
pulling force or weak Van der Waals bonds [4]. Another
characteristic property is its great ion exchange capacity (II)
that occurs because of the imbalance in the electric charges
of the tetrahedrons due to the replacement of Si ions by Al
ions. And finally, its great porosity (III), since when the
tetrahedrons are interwoven, they can form different
morphologies of rings or cavities depending on the Si / Al
ratio that exists in the structure, which is why zeolites are
called molecular sieves par excellence, since according to its
diameter, only molecules with similar or smaller diameters
can enter its pores, which can be retained inside later.
The preparation of the zeolites to determine the adsorption
characteristics, consists in crushing the mineral until
obtaining a particle size between 0.25-0.5 mm, followed by
washing with distilled water and drying in the open air at
room temperature. Subsequently, the zeolites are distributed
in different containers where each one is out into heavy metal
solutions at different concentrations and placed on a shaker.
After 4-5 hours the solution is separated by filtration and the
concentration of heavy metals is calculated [5].
To determine the adsorption characteristics of zeolites, they
have various equations that vary according to their author,
but they converge in that they depend on the initial and final
concentration of heavy metals solutions and that such
adsorption capacity decreases when the concentration of
heavy metals in suspension increases, as illustrated in figure
1. In addition, another important aspect in the ability of the
mineral to absorb heavy metals, is the atomic diameter of
each metal, because if these are similar to the diameter of the
pore of the zeolite, it will be difficult for the ion to pass and
Figure 1. Adsorption percentage according to the type of heavy metal as a
function of the initial concentration of the solution. Conditions Amount of
zeolite used: 10g, Volume of solution: 500ml, pH: 6-7 and time: 5.5 hours
2.2 Bentonite
Bentonite is a clay formed by aluminum silicates, which is
mainly made up of clays from the group of smectites
specifically montmorillonite, this group of clays are
characterized by being expansive since the molecule that
unites the different layers of tetrahedra and octahedra of
Aluminum silicates is the water, this molecule being very
mobile, the bonds that exist between the layers are weak and
therefore these layers do not remain fixed, which causes that
these clays have the capacity to absorb considerable amounts
of water that will lodge within these layers. Another reason
why it works as a good absorbent is because it has a net
negative surface charge, making it efficient in attracting
cationic compounds to its surface. However, the adsorption
capacity and selectivity of natural bentonite towards ionic
compounds seems to be not so good. Therefore, a systematic
modification of the bentonite surface becomes necessary to
improve its adsorption capacity and possibly to improve its
adsorption selectivity for the removal of ionic compounds
from wastewater. This modification is carried out with
polymers in order to increase the electronegativity on the
surface of the mineral, producing a greater capacity for
electronic attraction with the contaminating cations [9] [3].
2.3 Ilmenite
Ilmenite is an opaque, dark brown to black trigonal-
rhombohedral oxide, titanium and iron oxide (FeTiO3) that
is formed in temperature conditions above 500 ° C, its
occurrence happens in metamorphic rocks and also in
igneous rocks as gabros and basalts generally as accessory

2
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mineral, in pegmatites associated with gabros and as a
sedimentary mineral in pleasures.
These materials have been mainly analyzed for the
remediation of waters from the mining industry and the water
from hospitals.
2.3.1 Treatment in mining wastewater.
Today, the photocatalysis is a developed methodology in
which people continue working on, as it has proven to be very
effective, in the case of mining a photocatalysis is carried out
where the catalyst is the rutile, the UV radiation emitted (and
necessary) during the process could be natural, that is, the
product of solar radiation. The process is based on the direct
or indirect absorption of photons of visible light or UV by a
solid, which is normally a semiconductor, with sufficient
energy, equal to or greater than the energy of the gap (Egap)
of the semiconductor. Egap is the difference in energies
between the minimum of the conduction band Ec and the
maximum of the valence band Ev in a semiconductor.
Oxidation or reduction reactions occur on the surface of the
solid without chemically affecting or modifying the catalyst.
(tio2 photocatalysis).
Figure 2. Process that occurs in the catalyst when making the jump from the
conduction band to the valence band giving way to oxidation and reduction
processes
As a result of this reaction, OH free radicals are generated,
which are the main agents for the elimination of organic and
inorganic compounds present in wastewater through
mineralization, degradation and reduction of metals. This
methodology yielded very positive results since, from 300
ppm of catalyst, degradation percentages of 93.94% and
mineralization of 72.22% are obtained. In general, it is a very
viable solution since it is effective and can be carried out on
site, which would imply reductions in costs.
2.3.2 Water from the hospitals
Throughout history, different investigations and processes
have been carried out which have not been entirely effective
or economical. Suárez [10] proposes a pre-treatment
accompanied by coagulation-flocculation and flotation
processes, but it is found that at the end of the process, the
water presented some antibiotics in volumes of up to 50%;
3
also Wilde (ML Wilde, WMM Mahmoud, K. Kümmerer, AF
Martins, Oxidation-coagulation of β-blockers by K2FeVIO4
in hospital wastewater: evaluation of degradation and
biodegradability products, Sci. Total Environ. 452–453
(2013) 137 –147) shows degradations greater than 90% with
an oxidation-coagulation method, but in contrast, a decrease
of less than 20% in COD was observed, which shows that it
is not such an effective treatment. On the other hand, Garcia
[10] proposes a more complete solution: Catalytic Wet
Peroxide Oxidation (CWPO) Photo catalysis assisted through
ilmenite. The procedure consists of the implementation of
natural or artificial radiation, UV rays are those that intervene
in the treatment, the ilmenite particles, of the size of 100
microns, enter as a catalyst in a proportion between 0.5 to 1.5
g / L together with H2O2 peroxide 2,125 g / L at a
temperature between 30 ° c and 50 ° c.; An established pH
was achieved (generally with the help of HNO3, which
optimizes the process taking into account that this pH could
be affected by the amount of carbonates and bicarbonates.
During the process and the results, the behavior of the
pollution indicators are mainly observed; the TOC (Total
organic carbon) and COD, these are monitored along with the
temperature and the observed results are shown in the figure
below [10].
Figure 3. Decrease of TOC (total organic carbon) with increasing
temperature in the process, represents approximately 80%.
It is concluded that this combination of methods is very
effective for the remediation of hospital wastewater, where
the degradation of approximately 80% of the polluting agents
(COD, TOC) occurred, additionally thanks to UV lightning
other agents such as coliforms present in the water were
exterminated. (Ilmenite catalysis)
In general, it is a very good option to use titanium dioxide as
a catalyst in water treatment by photocatalysis since it is an
economic material, is not a toxic substance, is insoluble, and
is very selective for the absorption of the spectrum of some
 Velásquez-Henao & Rada-Tobón / DYNA 81 (184), pp. 1-2. April, 2014.

of them, it does not absorb in the visible but it does in the [8] M. J. Zamzow. , B. R. Eichbaum, K. Sandgren and R. Shanks,
ultraviolet. "Separation Science and Technology Removal of Heavy
Metals and Other Cations from Wastewater Using Zeolites
Removal Of Heavy Metals And Other Cations From
3. Conclusion Wastewater Using Zeolites," Separation Science and
Technology, vol. 25, pp. 13-15, 2013.
To conclude, these minerals are capable of removing [9] G. Purna Chandra Rao, S. Satyaveni, A. Ramesh, K. Seshaiah,
inorganic contaminants from drinking water with very high K. S. Murthy and . N. V. Choudary, "Sorption of cadmium
and zinc from aqueous solutions by zeolite 4A, zeolite 13X
removal rates of toxic trace metals, nutrients and organic and bentonite," Journal of Environmental Management, vol.
material. In most cases, they proved to be better or 81, pp. 265-272, 2006.
comparable with existing commercial filter materials,
[10 P. García-Muñoz , G. Pliego and J. A. Zazo, "Treatment of
adsorbents, and conventional methods used for ] hospital wastewater through the CWPO-Photoassisted
decontaminating drinking water. process catalyzed by ilmenite," Journal of Environmental
From the past to the present, the nature of the adsorbents used Chemical Engineering, vol. 5, pp. 4337-4343, 2017.
changed significantly. Low-cost adsorbents are now sought,
such as zeolite, natural and modified bentonite, and ilmenite.
The key factor for each past organic / inorganic adsorbent
was just the adsorption capacity, but now many factors have
been introduced to study an effective organic / inorganic
pollutant adsorbent (pH, kinetic velocity, adsorbent dose,
etc.). However, apart from all of the above, the main
drawback of the already published organic / inorganic
adsorption studies is that their use is still in the laboratory
stage, almost without pilot or commercialization studies.
Limited attempts at detailed economic and market analysis
are available. Applications of these minerals in commercial
water treatment plants are expected to be a breakthrough in
the future. It is relatively less difficult to demonstrate in a
laboratory; It is a little more difficult to demonstrate it on a
pilot scale, but actually increasing it on a large scale would
require significant financial and technological effort.

4. References

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[4] S. K. Ouki, "Treatment of metals-contaminated wastewaters
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[5] T. P. Belova, "Adsorption of heavy metal ions (Cu2+, Ni2+,
Co2+ and Fe2+) from aqueous solutions by natural zeolite,"
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[7] . M. N. Chong , Z. Y. Tneu and P. E. Poh, "Synthesis,
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