Open Access

Mimetite precipitation on Pb-clinoptilolite: an effective approach for arsenate removal from water

Ewa Stępień

Ewa Stępień

Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Protection, AGH University of KrakowKraków, Poland
Orcid profile
Search for this author on
Sciendo|Google Scholar
Stępień, Ewa
, 
Maciej Manecki

Maciej Manecki

Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Protection, AGH University of KrakowKraków, Poland
Search for this author on
Sciendo|Google Scholar
Manecki, Maciej
 and 
Tomasz Bajda

Tomasz Bajda

Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Protection, AGH University of KrakowKraków, Poland
Search for this author on
Sciendo|Google Scholar
Bajda, Tomasz
  
Jul 23, 2025
Mimetite precipitation on Pb-clinoptilolite: an effective approach for arsenate removal from water's Cover Image
About this article
Previous Article
Next Article
Cite
Download Cover
Article Category: Letter
Published Online: Jul 23, 2025
Page range: 44 - 51
Received: Apr 25, 2025
Accepted: Jun 19, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mipo-2025-0006
Keywords
© 2025 Ewa Stępień et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Figure 1.

(A) Sorption of Pb(II) by clinoptilolite as a function of the initial Pb(II) concentration in solution. (B) Sorption isotherm of Pb(II) on clinoptilolite, illustrating the relationship between equilibrium Pb(II) concentration and the amount sorbed.
(A) Sorption of Pb(II) by clinoptilolite as a function of the initial Pb(II) concentration in solution. (B) Sorption isotherm of Pb(II) on clinoptilolite, illustrating the relationship between equilibrium Pb(II) concentration and the amount sorbed.

Figure 2.

XPRD patterns of: (A) Natural zeolite (clinoptilolite) enriched in admixtures of orthoclase (O), illite (I), and quartz (Q), (B) Clinoptilolite after modification through sorption of Pb(II) and (C) Precipitate resulting from reaction of Pb-modified zeolite with AsO43− aqueous solution at pH 7 (50 mg As/L). XPRD, X-ray powder diffraction.
XPRD patterns of: (A) Natural zeolite (clinoptilolite) enriched in admixtures of orthoclase (O), illite (I), and quartz (Q), (B) Clinoptilolite after modification through sorption of Pb(II) and (C) Precipitate resulting from reaction of Pb-modified zeolite with AsO43− aqueous solution at pH 7 (50 mg As/L). XPRD, X-ray powder diffraction.

Figure 3.

SEM images in BSE mode display the morphology of Pb-modified clinoptilolite and mimetite precipitates. (A) Pb-modified clinoptilolite, before reaction with an arsenate solution, exhibited a granular surface structure. (B) After reaction with an arsenate solution (50 mg As/L; pH 7) containing Cl− ions (20 mg Cl−/L), mimetite (Pb5(AsO4)3Cl) precipitated. (C) Lead chloro-arsenate formed as needle-like crystals distributed across the surface of the Pb—modified zeolite. (D) These needles developed as incrustations enveloping the grains of the primary Pb-clinoptilolite. (E) The mimetite needles reached lengths of approximately 2.5 μm, exhibiting characteristic hexagonal cross-sections. BSE, backscattered electron; SEM, scanning electron microscopy.
SEM images in BSE mode display the morphology of Pb-modified clinoptilolite and mimetite precipitates. (A) Pb-modified clinoptilolite, before reaction with an arsenate solution, exhibited a granular surface structure. (B) After reaction with an arsenate solution (50 mg As/L; pH 7) containing Cl− ions (20 mg Cl−/L), mimetite (Pb5(AsO4)3Cl) precipitated. (C) Lead chloro-arsenate formed as needle-like crystals distributed across the surface of the Pb—modified zeolite. (D) These needles developed as incrustations enveloping the grains of the primary Pb-clinoptilolite. (E) The mimetite needles reached lengths of approximately 2.5 μm, exhibiting characteristic hexagonal cross-sections. BSE, backscattered electron; SEM, scanning electron microscopy.

Final concentrations of arsenic (As) and lead (Pb), along with arsenic removal efficiency, after a 7-day reaction between Pb-zeolite and As solution in the presence of chloride ions (20 mg/L)

Arsenic Removal Experiment
Initial pH Equilibrium pH Initial [As] = 50 mg/L
Final [As] mg/L Removal rate % Final [Pb] mg/L
2.0 2.8 12.58 74.84 20.00
7.0 6.3 0.07 99.88 <0.02

Results of Pb(II) sorption by natural clinoptilolite

Initial assumed concentration [mg Pb/L] Initial measured concentration [mg Pb/L] Equilibrium concentration [mg Pb/L] Difference between initial and equilibrium concentration Amount of Pb [mg] sorbed by 0.8 g of zeolite Amount of Pb [mg] per 1 kg of zeolite Pb Removal [%]
100.0 92.0 1.6 90.4 3.6 4520.0 98.3
500.0 473.4 <0.5 472.9 18.9 23,645.0 99.9
1000.0 966.0 7.4 958.6 38.3 47,930.0 99.2
2000.0 1948.0 355.0 1593.0 63.7 79,650.0 81.8
4000.0 3926.0 2212.0 1714.0 68.6 85,700.0 43.7
Language:
English
Publication timeframe:
1 times per year
Journal Subjects:
Geosciences, Geophysics, Geosciences, other
Journal RSS Feed