• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.50 no.3
• /
• pp.215-224
• /
• 2017

Arsenic (As) is known to be the most toxic element and frequently detected in groundwater environment. Inorganic As exists as arsenite [As(III)] and arsenate [As(V)] in reduced and oxidized environments, respectively. It has been reported that the toxicity of arsenite is much higher than that of arsenate and furthermore arsenite shows relatively higher mobility in aqueous environments. For this reason, there have been numerous researches on the process for oxidation of arsenite to arsenate to reduce the toxicity of arsenic. In particular, photooxidation has been considered to be simple, economical, and efficient to attain such goal. This study was conducted to evaluate the applicability of naturally-occurring goethite as a photocatalyst to substitute for $TiO_2$ which has been mostly used in the photooxidation processes so far. In addition, the effects of several factors on the overall performance of arsenite photocatalytic oxidation process were evaluated. The results show that the efficiency of the process was affected by total concentration of dissolved cations rather than by the kind of those cations and also the relatively higher pH conditions seemed to be more favorable to the process. In the case of coexistence of arsenite and arsenate, the removal tendency by adsorption onto goethite appeared to be different between arsenite and arsenate due to their different affinities with goethite, but any effect on the photocatalytic oxidation of arsenite was not observed. In terms of effect of humic acid on the process, it is likely that the higher concentration of humic acid reduced the overall performance of the arsenite photocatalytic oxidation as a result of competing interaction of activated oxygen species, such as hydroxyl and superoxide radicals, with arsenite and humic acid. In addition, it is revealed that the injection of oxygen gas improved the process because oxygen contributes to arsenite oxidation as an electron acceptor. Based on the results of the study, consequently, the photocatalytic oxidation of aqueous arsenite using goethite seems to be greatly feasible with the optimization of process.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.42 no.2
• /
• pp.95-105
• /
• 2009

Systematic studies are performed for arsenic adsorption on synthesized lepidocrocite. The synthesized lepidocrocite with high surface area of $94.8\;g/m^2$ has shown that the point of zero charge(PZC) is 6.57 determined by potentiometric titration, suggestive of high capacity of arsenic removal. Results show that arsenite[As(III)] uptake by synthesized lepidocrocite is greater than that of arsenate[As(V)] at pH $2{\sim}12$, indicating that the lepidocrocite has high affinity toward arsenite rather than arsenate. Adsorption of arsenate decreases with increasing pH from 2 to 12, whereas arsenite sorption increases until pH 8.0, and then decreases dramatically with increasing pH, suggesting that changes in surface charge of the lepidocrocite as a function of pH playa important role in aresinc uptake by the lepidocrocite. Upon kinetic experiments, our results demonstrate that both arsenite and arsenate sorption on the lepidocrocite increases rapidly for the first 4 h followed by little changes during the duration of the experiment, showing that adsorption plays a key role in aresenic uptake by the lepidocrocite. Our results also show that power function and elovich models are the best fit for the adsorption kinetics of arsenite and aesenate on the lepidocrocite.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.39 no.1
• /
• pp.9-18
• /
• 2017

Arsenic (As) has been considered as the most toxic one among various hazardous materials and As contamination can be caused naturally and anthropogenically. Major forms of arsenic in groundwater are arsenite [(As(III)] and/or arsenate [(As(V)], depending on redox condition: arsenite and arsenate are predominant in reduced and oxidized environments, respectively. Because arsenite is much more toxic and mobile than arsenate, there have been a number of studies on the reduction of its toxicity through oxidation of As(III) to As(V). This study was initiated to develop photocatalytic oxidation process for treatment of groundwater contaminated with arsenite. The performance of two types of light sources (UV lamp and UV LED) was compared and the feasibility of goethite as a photocatalyst was evaluated. The highest removal efficiency of the process was achieved at a goethite dose of 0.05 g/L. Based on the comparison of oxidation efficiencies of arsenite between two light sources, the apparent performance of UV LED was inferior to that of UV lamp. However, when the results were appraised on the basis of their emitting UV irradiation, the higher performance was achieved by UV LED than by UV lamp. This study demonstrates that environmentally friendly process of goethite-catalytic photo-oxidation without any addition of foreign catalyst is feasible for the reduction of arsenite in groundwater containing naturally-occurring goethite. In addition, this study confirms that UV LED can be used in the photo-oxidation of arsenite as an alternative light source of UV lamp to remedy the drawbacks of UV lamp, such as long stabilization time, high electrical power consumption, short lifespan, and high heat output requiring large cooling facilities.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.227-237
• /
• 2008

Arsenic has recently become of the most serious environmental concerns, and the worldwide regulation of arsenic fur drinking water has been reinforced. Arsenic contaminated groundwater and soil have been frequently revealed as well, and arsenic contamination and its treatment and measures have been domestically raised as one of the most important environmental issues. Arsenic behavior in geo-environment is principally affected by oxides and clay minerals, and particularly iron (oxy)hydroxides have been well known to be most effective in controlling arsenic. Among a number of iron (oxy)hydroxides, for this reason, 2-line ferrihydrite was selected in this study to investigate its effect on arsenic behavior. Adsorption of 2-line ferrihydrite was characterized and compared between As(III) and As(V) which are known to be the most ubiquitous species among arsenic forms in natural environment. Two-line ferrihydrite synthesized in the lab as the adsorbent of arsenic had $10\sim200$ nm for diameter, $247m^{2}/g$ for specific surface area, and 8.2 for pH of zero charge, and those representative properties of 2-line ferrihydrite appeared to be greatly suitable to be used as adsorbent of arsenic. The experimental results on equilibrium adsorption indicate that As(III) showed much stronger adsorption affinity onto 2-line ferrihydrite than As(V). In addition, the maximum adsorptions of As(III) and As(V) were observed at pH 7.0 and 2.0, respectively. In particular, the adsorption of As(III) did not show any difference between pH conditions, except for pH 12.2. On the contrary, the As(V) adsorption was remarkably decreased with increase in pH. The results obtained from the detailed experiments investigating pH effect on arsenic adsorption show that As(III) adsorption increased up to pH 8.0 and dramatically decreased above pH 9.2. In case of As(V), its adsorption steadily decreased with increase in pH. The reason the adsorption characteristics became totally different depending on arsenic species is attributed to the fact that chemical speciation of arsenic and surface charge of 2-line ferrihydrite are significantly affected by pH, and it is speculated that those composite phenomena cause the difference in adsorption between As(III) and As(V). From the view point of adsorption kinetics, adsorption of arsenic species onto 2-line ferrihydrite was investigated to be mostly completed within the duration of 2 hours. Among the kinetic models proposed so for, power function and elovich model were evaluated to be the most suitable ones which can simulate adsorption kinetics of two kinds of arsenic species onto 2-line ferrihydrite.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.73-82
• /
• 2011

X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) study was conducted using arsenite-sorbed two-line ferrihydrite to investigate the mechanism of surface interactions between two-line ferrihydrite and As(III) (arsenite) which are ubiquitous in nature. The two-line ferrihydrite used was synthesized in the laboratory and the study was undertaken at pHs 4 and 10 to compare the difference in mechanisms of surface interaction between acidic and alkaline environments. The effect of arsenite-adsorbed concentrations on surface complexation was investigated at each pH condition as well. From the results of XAS analyses, the structural parameters of arsenite in the EXAFS revealed that the coordination number and distanceof As-O were 3.1~3.3 and 1.74~1.79 ${\AA}$, respectively, which indicate that the unit structure of arsenite complex formed on the surface of two-line ferrihydrite is $AsO_3$. The dominant structures of As(III)-Fe complex were examined to be bidentate binuclear comer-sharing ($^2C$) and the mixture of bidentate mononuclear edge sharing ($^2E$) and $^2C$ appeared as well. At pH 4, arsenite complex showed different structures on the surface of two-line ferrihydrite, depending on the adsorbed concentrations. At pH 10, on the contrary, the surface structures of arsenite complexes were interpreted to be almost identical, irrespective of the adsorbed concentrations of arsenite. Consequently, this microscopic XAS results support the results of macroscopic adsorption experiments in which the surface interaction between arsenite and two-line ferrihydrite is significantly influenced by pH conditions as well as arsenite concentrations.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.425-434
• /
• 2008

Arsenic contamination in soil and groundwater has recently been one of the most serious environmental concerns. This arsenic contamination can be originated from natural or anthropogenic sources. It has been well known that arsenic behavior in geo-environmental is controlled by various oxides or hydroxides, such as those of iron, manganese, and aluminum, and clay minerals. Among those, particularly, iron (oxy)hydroxides are the most effective scavengers for arsenic. For this reason, this study characterized arsenic adsorption of magnetite which is a kind of iron oxide in nature. The physicochemcial features of the magnetite were investigated to evaluate adsorption of arsenite [As(III)] and arsenate [As(V)] onto magnetite. In addition to experiments on adsorption equilibria, kinetic experiments were also conducted. The point of zero charge (PZC) and specific surface area of the laboratory-synthesized magnetite used as an arsenic adsorbent were measured 6.56 and $16.6\;g/m^2$, which values seem to be relatively smaller than those of the other iron (oxy)hydroxides. From the results of equilibria experiments, arsenite was much more adsorbed onto magnetite than arsenate, indicating the affinity of arsenite on magnetite is larger than arsenate. Arsenite and arsenate showed adsorption maxima at pHs 7 and 2, respectively. In particular, adsorption of arsenate decreased with increase in pH as a result of electrical repulsion caused by anionic arsenate and negatively-charged surface of magnetite. These results indicate that the surface charge of magnetite and the chemical speciation of arsenic should be considered as the most crucial factors in controlling arsenic. The results of kinetic experiments show that arsenate was adsorbed more quickly than arsenite and adsorption of arsenic was investigated to be mostly completed within the duration of 4 hours, regardless of chemical speciation of arsenic. When the results of kinetic experiments were fitted to a variety of kinetic models proposed so far, power function and elovich model were evaluated to be the most suitable ones which can simulate adsorption kinetics of two kinds of arsenic species onto magnetite.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.229-244
• /
• 2013

Arsenic contamination may be brought about by a variety of natural and anthropogenic causes. Among diverse naturally-occurring chemical speciations of arsenic, trivalent (As(III), arsenite) and pentavalent (As(V), arsenate) forms have been reported to be the most predominant ones. It has been well known that the behavior of arsenic is chiefly affected by aluminum, iron, and manganese oxides. For this reason, this study was initiated to evaluate the applicability of manganese slag (Mn-slag) containing high level of Mn, Si, and Ca as an efficient sorbent of arsenic. The main properties of Mn-slag as a sorbent were investigated and the sorption of each arsenic species onto Mn-slag was characterized from the aspects of equilibrium as well as kinetics. The specific surface area and point of zero salt effect (PZSE) of Mn-slag were measured to be $4.04m^2/g$ and 7.73, respectively. The results of equilibrium experiments conducted at pH 4, 7 and 10 suggest that the sorbed amount of As(V) was relatively higher than that of As(III), indicating the higher affinity of As(V) onto Mn-slag. As a result of combined effect of pH-dependent chemical speciations of arsenic as well as charge characteristics of Mn-slag surface, the sorption maxima were observed at pH 4 for As(V) and pH 7 for As(III). The sorption of both arsenic species reached equilibrium within 3 h and fitting of the experimental results to various kinetic models shows that the pseudo-second-order and parabolic models are most appropriate to simulate the system of this study.