Nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn) and phosphorus (P) found in wastewater from industrial factories were effectively removed by physicochemical adsorption using mainly natural zeolite. At first, the fine ground natural zeolite particles and aluminum ion were directly added in the solution and agitated. Subsequently, the pH of solution was adjusted from 6 to 10 while stirring. Different samples were collected from the solution at different periods of time. Each of them was analyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometer (ICP-AES).
Industrial wastewater has been tested. The best results were achieved while 50 mg/l of natural zeolite and 0.5 mg/l of aluminum ion were added into solution at pH 10. Referring to the results, more than 98% of Ni and Zn and more than 94% of phosphorus were removed from the wastewater.