Ammonium removal from aqueous solutions by dissolved air flotation in the presence of zeolite carrier

In this paper, dissolved air flotation (DAF) was examined as a possible treatment method for the removal of ammonium ions (NH₄⁺) from surface water. A natural zeolite, clinoptilolite sample with a fine particle size (< 10 μm) was used as a carrier material during the flotation tests. Two types DAF cells, batch and continuous implemented in our laboratories, were used in the flotation experiments. Flotation tests revealed that the test loaded with 5 mg/L ammonium resulted in a residual ammonium concentration of < 0.5 mg/L with corresponding turbidity values of treated water (< 10 NTU). It was observed that the usage of carrier material with higher treatment capacity and finer ion exchange material of higher surface area than classical ion exchangers may provide better advantages over the classical DAF method.