Arsenic adsorption from water : review of technologies and evaluation of natural and synthetic adsorbents

• Main Author: Mohamad Yussof Abdul Khalid.
• Other Authors: Lim Teik Thye
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Environmental engineering::Water treatment
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/45215
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Millions of people around the world are at risk of arsenic (As) poisoning. In present times, there have been countless research being conducted on As removal from water due to the gravity of the arsenic contamination situation around the world, especially in developing countries. Of exceptional promise was adsorption studies due to its relatively low level of technology, manpower, technical know-how and cost requirements.Iron oxides and granular activated carbon (GAC) are some of the better adsorbents for pollutants removal from waste streams or contaminated water in the market. However, iron oxides crumble easily and GAC does not seem to have a high affinity for arsenic. It was proposed that an iron-impregnated GAC (GAC-Fe) would be the key to synthesizing an adsorbent that has a high affinity for As and mechanical stability for adsorption columns. Research has shown that an iron concentration of 0.15M would result in a type of GAC-Fe that possesses a very high As removal rate as well as long breakthrough time.