摘要：The purpose of this study is to find the best activator for bentonite to reduce the mercury content ina solution. Bentonite was activated by HCl, H3PO4, NaCl, ZnCl2, NaOH and KOH use different concentrationsuch as 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5M. Activated bentonite has been characterized by x-ray diffraction, scanning electronmicroscope with energy dispersive spectroscopy and atomic absorption spectrometry. Bentonitecharacterization showed that bentonite contains kaolinite, montmorillonite, quartz and cristobalite. Activatedbentonite has bigger pores than natural bentonite. Atomic absorption spectrometry showed that H3PO4, HCl,NaCl, ZnCl2, NaOH and KOH can reduce the mercury around 99.99, 99.87, 97.48, 9.24, 99.81 and 99.86%.Thus, best activator for activated bentonite as a low-cost adsorbent is H3PO4.
