ARSENIC REMOVAL FROM WATER

Presented by: Khyati Aherwar

Seminar guide: Prof. Rajiv Ranjan
 Introduction-Arsenic
• Naturally occurring metalloid
• Symbol-As and atomic number- 33
• Occurs with conjunction with sulphur and other metals.
• Minuscule amount found in rocks, air, soil, water and soil.
• It can exist in various allotropes.
Grey
Black
yellow
• It can be found combined with other elements in different chemical compounds.
Allotropes of arsenic
 Why do we need to remove arsenic?

• Arsenic is a natural metalloid chemical that may be present in groundwater.

• Ingestion only poses health problems if a dangerous amount of arsenic enters the
body. Then, it can lead to cancer, liver disease, coma, and death.

• Organic forms of arsenic also contain carbon, but inorganic forms do not. Arsenic
cannot be dissolved in water.

• Inorganic arsenic compounds are more harmful than organic ones. They are more
likely to react with the cells in the body, displace certain elements from the cell, and
change the cell's function.
 Symptoms

These may include:

drowsiness
headaches
confusion
severe diarrhea
a metallic taste in the mouth and garlicky breath
excess saliva
problems swallowing
blood in the urine
cramping muscles
 Causes

• The main cause of arsenic poisoning worldwide is the drinking of groundwater that contains
high levels of the toxin. The water becomes contaminated underground by rocks that release the
arsenic.

• If proper safety measures are not taken, workers in certain industries may face a higher risk of
toxicity.

• These industries include:

glass production
smelting
wood treatment
the production and use of some pesticides
 Methods to remove arsenic:

• Oxidation

• Coagulation and flocculation

• Membrane techniques

• Adsorption
 Oxidation

• Converts arsenite to arsenate.

• Requires a removal technique, such as adsorption, coagulation, or ion exchange, must follow.

• Arsenites can be oxidized

Oxygen
Ozone
Free chlorine
Hypo chloride
Permanganate
but atmospheric oxygen, hypo chloride and permanganate are commonly used for oxidation in
developing countries.
 Coagulation and flocculation

• Most employed and documented techniques for arsenic removal from water.

• Coagulation: Positively charged coagulants (e.g., aluminum sulphate (Al 2(SO4)3), ferric chloride
(FeCl3)) reduce the negative charge of colloids, thereby making the particles collide and get
larger.

• Flocculation: Involves the addition of an anionic flocculant that causes bridging or charge
neutralization between the formed larger particles leading to the formation of flocs.

• Dissolved arsenic is transformed into an insoluble solid, which undergoes precipitation later.

• Either way, solids can be removed afterwards through sedimentation and/or filtration.
 Membrane techniques

• Used for the removal of arsenic and other contaminants from water.

• Membranes are synthetic materials with billions of pores acting as selective barriers, which do
not allow some constituents of the water to pass through.

• A driving force, such as pressure difference between the feed and the permeate sides, is needed
to transport the water through the membrane.

• Generally, there are two categories of pressure-driven membrane filtrations:

(i) low-pressure membrane processes, such as microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF)
 (ii) high-pressure membrane processes, such as reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF).
 Separation mechanism and techniques for membrane separation

Parameter Microfiltration Ultrafiltration Nanofiltration Reverse osmosis

Separation Sieving Sieving Sieving charge Solution diffusion

mechanism effects

Applications Clarification; Removal of Removal of Removal of salts

Pre-treatment; macromolecules, organic
Sterilization; bacteria, viruses compounds and
some dissolved
salts
 Adsorption

• Uses solids as medium for the removal of substances from gaseous or liquid solutions.

• Substances are separated from one phase followed by their accumulation at the surface of
another. This process is driven mainly by van der Waals forces and electrostatic forces between
the adsorbate molecules and the adsorbent surface atoms.

• These include:
Activated carbon
Red mud
Fly ash
Chicken feathers
Zeolite
 Magnitude of the problem

• Arsenic contamination of groundwater is widespread and there are a number of regions where
arsenic contamination of drinking-water is significant.
• It is now recognized that at least 140 million people in 50 countries have been drinking water
containing arsenic at levels above the WHO provisional guideline value.
• significant progress has since been made and the number of people exposed to arsenic
exceeding the Bangladesh drinking-water quality standard has decreased by approximately
40%.
• Despite these efforts, it was estimated that in 2012 about 19 million and 39 million people in
Bangladesh were still exposed to arsenic concentrations above the national standard of 50 μg/L
and the WHO provisional guideline value of 10 μg/L respectively.
• There is no method to distinguish cases of cancer caused by arsenic from cancers induced by
other factors. As a result, there is no reliable estimate of the magnitude of the problem
worldwide.
 Conclusion

• Arsenic is recognized as a persistent contaminant in groundwater with severe impact on human

health when exposed through, amongst other sources, drinking water.

• Conventional techniques generally focus on arsenate removal after an initial oxidation of

arsenite by either atmospheric oxygen, bacterial activity, or chemical reagents.

• Increasing the particle size of soluble species is possible by a coagulation/flocculation process

and allows removal by precipitation or membrane filtration in a consecutive step. Ion-exchange
resins alternatively are capable of directly immobilizing As ions, but this process is subject to
pH influences and competition from co-occurring ions such as phosphate or silicate.

• Still there are many places with arsenic infected water and with water containing arsenic more
than 10 mg/L.
THANK YOU