Arsenic(V) Removal from Drinking Water by Polyaluminum Chloride in a Sand Filter Medium
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 9
Abstract
Arsenic-containing groundwater is used normally as drinking water after treatment in rural areas of some developing countries. This study describes removing arsenate [As(V)] by contact filtration on a sand media using polyaluminum chloride (PACl) as a coagulant. Arsenic-contaminated water and PACl coagulant were introduced concurrently into a sand filter column. A PACl dose of reduced the arsenic (As) concentration in a synthetic groundwater () from to less than . The 81-cm deep, 16-mm diameter single-sand column treated 38.4 pore volumes before it reached an assumed maximum allowable experimental head loss (4.50 m). Reducing the PACl dose resulted in an increased As concentration in the filter effluent. The PACl precipitate-As complex could be removed from the filter by flushing. Results suggest precipitated PACl is more efficient than aluminum oxide/hydroxide solid phases in As removal. Filter performance was shown to be independent of how the PACl was distributed in the filter column.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the U.S. EPA P1 Grant No. SU835516. The authors thank Cameron Willkens, Paul Charles, Tim Brock, and students William Pennock, Casey Garland, and Jason Koutoudis for their assistance during this research.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 9 • September 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 12, 2016
Accepted: Feb 24, 2017
Published online: May 19, 2017
Published in print: Sep 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Oct 19, 2017
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