Recovery of Pd(II) and Ru(III) from aqueous waste using inorganic ion-exchanger

The applicability of mica minerals and zeolites for the efficient removal of valuable platinum group metals (PGMs), Pd(II) and Ru(III) from aqueous waste by sorption has been investigated. The sorption of PGMs Pd(II) onto mica-mineral, muscovite and Ru(III) onto natrolite as zeolite have been studied as a function of (i) exchanger composition, (ii) temperature at which sorption process takes place and (iii) the presence of competing cations such as Na+, K+, Mg2+. These three factors have remarkable effect on the sorption process. The synthesized gel was characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, energy dispersive spectrometry, thermogravimetric analysis and scanning electron microscopy.