Modeling As(III) and As(V) adsorption and transport from water by a sand coated with iron-oxide colloids

Tile development of a porous iron-oxide coated sand filter system can be modelled with the analytical solution of tile transport equation in order to obtain the operating parameters and investigate the mechanism of arsenic removal. The adsorbed amount from the model simulation showed the limitation of adsorption removal during arsenic transport. A loss reaction term in the transport equation plays a role in the mass loss in column conditions, and then resulted into the better model fitting, particularly, for arsenate. Further, the competitive oxyanions delayed the breakthrough near MCL (10 $\mu$g/L) due to the competitive adsorption. This is the reason why arsenate can be strongly attracted in tile interface of an iron-oxide coated sand, and competing oxyanions can occupy the adsorption sites. Therefore, arsenic retention was regulated by non-equilibrium of arsenic adsorption in a porous iron-oxide coated sand media. The transport-limited process seemed to be affect the arsenic adsorption by coated sand.