Professional Documents
Culture Documents
26H
2
O] was also not desorbable in the presence
of concentrated sulfate and high ionic strength
solutions [50]. On the contrary, sulfate was found
to decrease both As(V) and As(III) sorption on
hydrous ferric oxide in the pH range of 47 [51].
Disagreement in the literatures on the effects of
sulfate on As(V) and As(III) sorption may have
derived from different experimental conditions.
Scattered research has already been conducted
on a wide variety of sorbents. Some of the
reported sorbents include zeolites, goethite, clay,
kaolinites, activated carbon, chitosan beads, coco-
nut husk, coal, fly ash, ferrous iron, alumina,
zirconium oxide, red mud, petroleum residues,
rice husk, human hair, sawdust, manganese
greensand, orange juice residues, akaganite-
nanocrystal and chome waste.
Activated carbon is also commonly used as the
material in arsenic treatment [5254]. Eguez and
Cho [55] measured the adsorption of As (III) and
As (V) using activated carbon at various pH
values. From the effect of temperature on adsorp-
tion, they could determine the isoteric heat of
adsorption. Other researchers [53,56] impreg-
nated carbon with various metal ions such as iron
oxide in order to improve arsenic adsorption. The
iron oxide impregnated activated carbon has
shown higher As(III) and As(V) removals com-
pared with the non-impregnated carbon.
Rajakovic [57] found that carbon pretreated
with Ag
+
or Cu
2+
ions improved As(III) adsorp-
tion but reduced As(V) adsorption. Evdokimov et
al. [58] reported that arsenic adsorption can be
T.S.Y. Choong et al. / Desalination 217 (2007) 139166 146
improved by impregnating carbon with ferric
hydroxide or tartaric acid. Rajakovic and
Mitrovic [59] showed that chemically treated
activated carbon exhibits high adsorption capa-
city for arsenic.
Lorenzen et al. [8] studied the factors (such as
solution pH, carbon type and carbon pretreatment
and elution of the arsenic from loaded carbon)
that affect the mechanism of the adsorption of
arsenic species on activated carbons. They found
that As(V) is more effectively removed from
solution by using activated carbon with high ash
content and pre-treatment of the carbon with
Cu(II) solutions improves its arsenic removal
capacity.
In these studies, commercially available acti-
vated carbons were used. The use of commercial
activated carbon is not suitable for developing
countries because of its high cost. The prepa-
ration of low cost adsorbent for water purification
and wastewater treatment has been reviewed by
Pollard et al. [60] and Bailey et al. [61]: agricul-
tural wastes like rice husk [62,63], coconut husk
[64], amine modified coconut coir [65], car-
bonised wood powder [66], sawdust [67], orange
juice residues [68] and waste tea fungal biomass
[69].
Iron oxides also have been widely used as
sorbents to remove contaminants from waste-
water and liquid hazardous wastes compared to
activated carbon. Removal has been attributed to
ion exchange, specific adsorption to surface
hydroxyl groups or coprecipitation. Hydrous
ferric oxide (HFO) is an important sorbent in
wastewater treatment especially for hazardous
chemical. Olivier et al. [70] removed arsenic
groundwater by filtering the water through sand
and zero-valent iron. As(V) sorbed on the form-
ing hydrous ferric oxides (HFO) resulted from the
oxidation of iron.
Different similar sorbent materials have been
also used, including amorphous iron hydroxide
[71] and ferric hydroxide [7274]. Other types of
ferric products, such as ferrihydrite [75], silica
that containing iron (III) oxide [76], iron-oxide
impregnated activated carbon [77], Ce(IV)-doped
iron oxide [78], iron oxide-coated sand [79],
iron(III)-Poly(hydroxamic acid) complex [80],
ferric chloride [[81], Fe(III)-doped alginate gels
[82], nanocomposite adsorbent based on silica
and iron(III) oxide [83], and iron oxide-coated
polymeric materials [84] are also used in arsenic
treatment.
Arsenic removal technology by adsorption
with a commercial granular ferric hydroxide
(GFH) has been developed in the early 1990s
[73,85]. It can be applied in simple fixed bed
reactors, similar to those for activated alumina or
activated carbon. Simplified operation is a key
benefit of the system, which will operate without
the need for chemical pre-feed or pH correction.
GFH has a high adsorption capacity in natural
waters. The work, carried out by Driehaus et al.
[73], shows that GFH possesses high treatment
capacity of 30,00040,000 bed volumes. Jekel
and Seith [86] compared the methods for the
precipitation/flocculation by iron (III)-chloride
and iron (II)-sulphate as well as adsorption on
GFH in a full scale water treatment plant. Their
findings also show that adsorption on granulated
iron hydroxide has proven to be the method
which will provide greater operational reliability
with least maintenance and monitoring efforts.
Ruhland and Jekel [87] had evaluated three
arsenic treatment techniques: direct filtration with
FeCl
3
, adsorptive filtration with FeSO
4
and
adsorption on granulated ferric hydroxide. The
adsorption on granulated ferric hydroxide is
found to be most preferential process for arsenic
removal on the tested conditions.
Earlier research achieved promising results on
a small scale tests in Germany using a granular
form of ferric hydroxide as an adsorption med-
ium. A follow-up resulted in a cooperation
agreement with German chemical company,
Bayer AG, which developed a totally new granu-
T.S.Y. Choong et al. / Desalination 217 (2007) 139166 147
Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of SORB 33 standard process
[88].
lar ferric oxy hydroxide in partnership with
Severn Trent Water of Fort Washington, Penn-
sylvania, USA. Under this collaboration, SORB
33 and Bayoxide