Browsing by Author "Adzabe, Fred Joseph Komla"

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    Synthesis Of Linde-Type X Zeolite And Its Application To Improve Soil Nutrients
    (2011) Adzabe, Fred Joseph Komla
    In this exploratory project, Linde-type X zeolite was synthesized and loaded with ammo-nium ions by ion exchange method. The ammonium exchange Linde-type X zeolite (NH4-LTX) was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis and Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Surface morphological studies obtained from SEM photomicrographs showed the powdered synthetic zeolite X have a lamellar structure with cubical edge. SEM analy-sis analysis also showed that the morphology of the zeolite particles was closely related before and after ion exchanged or before and after substitution of ammonium ions. XRD result showed that the phase of zeolite synthesized was similar to FAU. Also XRD analy-sis showed little or no changes in the phase purity of the Zeolite before and after ion ex-change. Meanwhile, FTIR spectra exhibited the presence of internal Si-O-(Si) and Si-O-(Al) vibrations in the tetrahedral or alumino- and silico-oxygen bridge in the range of 1200 – 400 cm-1. EDX and XRF results showed the concentration of NH4 loaded into the zeolite X framework. The effect of NH4-LTX on maize and okro plants was evaluated with soil of low nutrients and a mixture of 5 % w/w and 95 % w/w soil of low nutrients was analyzed. The results showed significant difference (P = 2) between plants in which NH4LTX was added to the soil and plants with no NH4-LTX when tested at 95 % confi-dence interval.