• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.279-286
• /
• 2006

Electrokinetic technique was considered in removing arsenic from the abandoned mining tails. In order to estimate the removal characteristics of arsenic, the sequential extraction analysis and desorption experiment were carried out prior to the application of electrokientic process. The result of sequential extraction analysis indicated that the water soluble and exchangeable fraction, easily leachable to ground water, were very low as much as about 2.5% and the fraction except residual (38.3%), possibly extractable under very acidic or alkalic environment, was about 59%. In the result of desorption test using four different kinds of electrolytes, the mixture of citric acid and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) showed the highest desorption efficiency as much as 77.3%. The removal efficiencies of arsenic from mining tailings by electrokinetic process under the different electrolyte environments were slightly low and resulted in the following order: citric acid + SDS (18.6%) > 0.1 $NHNO_3$ (8.1%) > HAc (7.4%) > Distilled water(6.6%). Also, arsenic in soil matrix was moved favorably in the direction of anodic rather than cathodic region, which is opposite trend with cationic metal ions generally existing in soil, because anionic form of arsenic is dominated in acidic soil caused by the movement of acid front form anode.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.38 no.5 s.174
• /
• pp.599-606
• /
• 2005

Arsenic is a significantly toxic contaminant in groundwater in many countries. Numerous treatment technologies have been developed to remove arsenic from groundwater. The USEPA recommends several technologies as the best available technology (BAT) candidates for the removal of arsenic. Based on the USEPA classification, arsenic treatment technologies can be divided into four technologies such as precipitation, membrane, ion exchange, and adsorption technology. The recent amendment of arsenic drinking water standard from 50 to $10{\mu}g/L$ in the United States have impacted technology selection and application for arsenic removal from arsenic contaminated groundwater. Precipitation technology is most widely used to treat arsenic contaminated groundwater and can be applied to large water treatment facility. In contrast, membrane, ion exchange, and adsorption technologies are used to be applied to small water treatment system. Recently, the arsenic treatment technology in the United States and Europe move towards adsorption technology to be applied to small water treatment system since capital and maintenance costs are relatively low and operation is simple. The principals of treatment technologies, effect factors on arsenic removal, arsenic treatment efficiencies of real treatment systems are reviewed in this paper.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.35 no.2
• /
• pp.605-609
• /
• 2014

Magnetic multi-granule nanoclusters (MGNCs) were investigated as an inexpensive means to effectively remove arsenic from aqueous environment, particularly groundwater sources consumed by humans. Various size MGNCs were examined to determine both their capacity and efficiency for arsenic adsorption for different initial arsenic concentrations. The MGNCs showed highly efficient arsenic adsorption characteristics, thereby meeting the allowable safety limit of $10{\mu}g/L$ (ppb), prescribed by the World Health Organization (WHO), and confirming that 0.4 g and 0.6 g of MGNCs were sufficient to remove 0.5 mg/L and 1.0 mg/L of arsenate ($AsO_4{^{3-}}$) from water, respectively. Adsorption isotherm models for the MGNCs were used to estimate the adsorption parameters. They showed similar parameters for both the Langmuir and Sips models, confirming that the adsorption process in this work was active at a region of low arsenic concentration. The actual efficiency of arsenate removal was then tested against 1 L of artificial arsenic-contaminated groundwater with an arsenic concentration of 0.6 mg/L in the presence of competing ions. In this case, only 1.0 g of 100 nm MGNCs was sufficient to reduce the arsenic concentrations to below the WHO permissible safety limit for drinking water, without adjusting the pH or temperature, which is highly advantageous for practical field applications.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.50 no.1
• /
• pp.6-12
• /
• 2007

Feasibility of laboratory-synthesized zerovalent iron was investigated to remove arsenic from leachates of tailings taken from an Au-Ag abandoned mine. The tailings were seriously contaminated with arsenic, and its potential adverse effect on the ecosystems around the mine seems to be significantly high. Long-term column experiments were conducted for about 3.5 months to evaluate the effectiveness of the synthesized zerovalent iron for removal of arsenic. Over than 95% removal efficiency of As was observed in the zerovalent iron mediated tests. In addition, the XRD data suggest that the corrosion products of ZVI were identified magnetite, maghemite, goethite, and lepidocrocite, all of which support Fe(II) oxidation as an intermediate step in the zerovalent iron corrosion process. The results indicate that arsenic can be removed from the tailing-leachate by the mechanism of coprecipitation and/or adsorption onto those iron oxides formed from ZVI corrosion.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2015

FeS, as a natural reduced iron mineral, has been recognized to be a viable reactive material for As(III) sequestration in natural and engineered systems. In this study, FeS-coated sand packed columns were tested to evaluate the As(III) removal capacities under anaerobic conditions at pH 5, 7 and 9. The column obtained As(III) removal capacity was then compared with the capacity result obtained from batch reactors. In the comparison, two different approaches were used. The first approach was used the total As(III) removal capacity which method was proved to be useful for interpreting pH 5 system. The second approach was used to consider sorption non-linearity and proved to be useful for interpreting the pH 9. The results demonstrated that a mechanistic understanding of the different removal processes at different pH conditions is important to interpret the column experimental results. At pH 5, where the precipitation of arsenic sulfide plays the major role in the removal of arsenic, the column shows a greater removal efficiency than the batch system due to the continuous dissolution of sulfide and precipitation of arsenic sulfide. At pH 9, where adsorption mainly governs the arsenic removal, the sorption nonlinearity should be considered in the estimation of the column capacity. This study highlighted the importance of understanding reaction mechanism to predict column performance using batch-obtained experimental results.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.34 no.8
• /
• pp.2358-2366
• /
• 2013

Iron oxide (ferrihydrite, hematite, and magnetite) coated silica gels were prepared using a low-cost, easily-scalable and straightforward method as the adsorbent material for arsenic removal application. Adsorption of the anionic form of arsenic oxyacids, arsenite ($AsO^{2-}$) and arsenate ($AsO{_4}^{3-}$), onto hematite coated silica gel was fitted against non-linear 3-parameter-model Sips isotherm and 2-parameter-model Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm. Adsorption kinetics of arsenic could be well described by pseudo-second-order kinetic model and value of adsorption energy derived from non-linear Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm suggests chemical adsorption. Although arsenic adsorption process was not affected by the presence of sulfate, chloride, and nitrate anions, as expected, bicarbonate and silicate gave moderate negative effects while the presence of phosphate anions significantly inhibited adsorption process of both arsenite and arsenate. When the actual efficiency to remove arsenic was tested against 1 L of artificial arsenic-contaminated groundwater (0.6 mg/L) in the presence competing anions, the reasonable amount (20 g) of hematite coated silica gel could reduce arsenic concentration to below the WHO permissible safety limit of drinking water of $10{\mu}g/L$ without adjusting pH and temperature, which would be highly advantageous for practical field application.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.283-288
• /
• 2020

This study investigated the purification process of groundwater contaminated with zinc and arsenic using a permeable reactive barrier with a zero-valent iron/pumice mixture. We determined the removal rates of the contaminants for 30 days. In this study, column reactor filled with the zero-valent iron/pumice reactive mixture was used. Experimental results showed that the mixture exhibited an almost complete removal of the zinc and arsenic ions. Arsenic was removed via co-precipitation and adsorption processes while zinc ions were asorbed in active sites.The purification process of water from the metal ionscontinued for 30 days with constant hydraulic conductivity because of the enhanced porosity of the pumice and interparticle distance between the zero-valent iron and pumice. Contaminants removal rates and the remediation mechanism for each reactive system are described in this paper.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.30 no.8
• /
• pp.808-816
• /
• 2008

In the present paper, a study has been performed on remediating mine tailings around abandoned mine contaminated with high concentrations of arsenic and heavy metals using the technique of soil washing. Through the removal experiment of arsenic, the optimal conditions in the type and concentration of washing reagent, mixing ratio of mine tailings and washing reagent, and washing time were derived. Results showed that the most effective washing reagents to remove arsenic from mine tailings were oxalic acid(72% removal efficiency) and phosphoric acid(65%), while the oxalic acid(89%) was the most effective in removing the heavy metals containing Cu. In addition, the most economical and efficient washing concentration was 0.25 M and the most suitable washing time was 30 minutes. The optimal mixing ratio of mine tailings and washing reagent was 1 : 20(mass/vol) from the viewpoint of minimization of wastewater produced after the washing, as well as the washing effectiveness. Although the mixture of washing reagents did not help in removal of arsenic, it could lead to much elevated synergy effect on removing Cu and Zn, compared with the single reagent.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.79-85
• /
• 2011

A study on characteristics for removal of arsenic ion using phosphorylated pine needles was performed. The surface condition of phosphorylated pine needles was confirmed by FT-IR, SEM(Scanning Electron Microscopy) and EDX(Energy Dispersive X-ray). The removal rate of arsenic ion was the highest as about 98% at pH 7. Most absorption for arsenic ion was also completed within 30min and decreased with time and pH of arsenic solution from 6.5 to 2.4.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.54 no.4
• /
• pp.561-567
• /
• 2021

The edible sargasso seaweed hijiki Sargassum fusiforme is known to have high concentration of arsenic, which is a threat to human health, particularly due to inorganic arsenic. In this study, various methods were used to remove inorganic arsenic from steamed hijiki concentrate. The highest concentration of arsenate [As(V)] in both raw and processed hijiki during steamed hijiki manufacturing process was within the range of 8.213-14.356 mg/kg, and it is a potential source of inorganic arsenic, which can result in re-contamination and cause environmental pollution. The removal efficiencies of the various removal methods were within the range of 57.3-83.4%, and 19.0% reduction was achieved using activated carbon and alginate bead. Further, activated carbon showed the best adsorption effect of inorganic arsenic. Therefore, we suggest that activated carbon is a suitable efficient method for removing inorganic arsenic and has low operational costs in field applicability.