EXCHANGE ADSORPTION EQUILIBRIA OF AMMONIUM ON CATION-VERMICULITE MINERALS

Experiment was designed under different pH and temperature conditions to analysis the NH4+ exchange capacity of Na+-vermiculite,Ca2+-vermiculite and Mg2+-vermiculite clay minerals pre-treated using NaCl,CaCl2 and MgCl2 solutions respectively.The results indicated that the exchange reactions occurred most rapidly at the proceeding 80 minutes and approached to equilibrium by about 120 minutes.The exchange quantity of ammonium on the vermiculite(at initial ammonium concentration of 673mg/L)varied with pH with a peak value of 28.36mg/g on Na+-vermiculite,23.01mg/g on Ca2+-vermiculite,20.14mg/g on Mg2+-vermiculite,18.04mg/g on natural vermiculite at pH 7.The exchange and adsorption isotherm of NH4+ on cation-vermiculite can be described by Langmuir equation.