Sorption of Ni, Zn and Cd on Sepiolite

Abstract

The ability of clay minerals to adsorb heavy metal cations is an important property in the context of the increasing contamination of the aquatic environment and soils by toxic waste. Laboratory studies of the sorption of heavy metals by clays have mostly been carried out using montmorillonite and illite (Chester, 1965; Egozy, 1970; Bourg & Filby, 1974; Helios-Rybicka & Schoer, 1982), less frequently for kaolinite, and only rarely for mixed-layer illite-montmorillonite (Helios-Rybicka, 1983) and the fibrous clay minerals sepiolite and palygorskite. This note describes the sorptive behaviour of sepiolite towards Ni, Zn and Cd.