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eISSN: 2083-5906
ISSN: 1230-1485
ISSN: 1230-1485
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Comparison of the Efficiency of Low-Cost
Adsorbents for Heavy Metals Removal
from the Monitored Polluted River of Nitra
1
Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Ecology and Environmental Sciences,
Technical University in Zvolen, T.G. Masaryka 24, 96001 Zvolen, Slovak Republic
2
Fortischem a.s., M.R. Štefánika 1, 972 71 Nováky, Slovakia
3
Department of Geography and Geology, Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica,
Tajovského 40, 974 01 Banská Bystrica, Slovak Republic
4
Institute of Foreign Languages, Technical University in Zvolen, T.G. Masaryka 24, 960 01 Zvolen, Slovak Republic
5
Department of Mathematics and Descriptive Geometry, Faculty of Wood Sciences and Technology,
Technical University in Zvolen, T.G. Masaryka 24, 96001 Zvolen, Slovak Republic
Submission date: 2025-07-08
Final revision date: 2025-10-02
Acceptance date: 2025-11-24
Online publication date: 2026-03-04
Publication date: 2026-10-23
Corresponding author
Juraj Poništ
Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Technical University in Zvolen, T.G. Masaryka 24, 96001 Zvolen, Slovak Republic
Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Technical University in Zvolen, T.G. Masaryka 24, 96001 Zvolen, Slovak Republic
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2026;35(5):6179-6192
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Pollution of surface water by heavy metals is a major environmental problem worldwide.
The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of natural adsorbents (bentonites from
the Kopernica deposit) with commercial types (zeolites of different quality) in removing selected
heavy metals from the polluted surface stream in the monitored area. The adsorption process of the
monitored metals was evaluated in terms of adsorption capacity and percentage of metal ion removal
efficiency. The surface flow in the monitored area is significantly polluted and does not achieve
the necessary water quality. The results of the research point to the high adsorption capacity of bentonites
for Hg, while zeolites showed this ability less and were suitable only for some of the monitored heavy
metals. The adsorption of zeolite of the type ZeoCem Eco Micro 200 (type C) is suitable for metals
in the direction from the most adsorbed heavy metal to the least adsorbed as follows: Sb > Hg > Cr > Cd
> Cu > Zn. As showed no affinity for adsorption onto zeolite C. The research confirmed the suitability
of low-cost adsorbents for the remediation of polluted water in the monitored area.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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| eISSN: | 2083-5906 |
| ISSN: | 1230-1485 |
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