Arsenic Removal from Water by Moving Bed Active Filtration
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 1
Abstract
Arsenic (As) in drinking water was removed by a combined co-precipitation, active filtration process. A serpentine prereactor for ferric chloride reagent mixing was combined with a moving bed active filter, followed by separation of waste residuals from clean water discharge. Waste effluent, using 10% of influent for transport, was retained in a clarifier for settling prior to water recycling. Process residuals passed leach tests for landfill disposal. The pilot-scale apparatus was tested at a small community, public drinking water system in Fruitland, Id. In a test, influent groundwater averaging total As was fed at and solution was added at an optimized Fe to As molar ratio of 133:1. Arsenic concentrations were reduced to over the test period. Research observations support the hypothesis that the formation and renewal of iron oxide-coated sand in the active filter is a viable mechanism for high efficiency As removal. Further testing is underway to optimize long-term operating performance and to characterize the chemical processes of the system.
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Acknowledgments
The writers appreciate the cooperation of Sand-Ida Services, Incorporated in Sandpoint, Idaho and the City of Fruitland, Idaho for helping arrange fieldwork. They thank the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality for their support throughout this work. Ferric chloride reagent was provided by Kemiron Pacific, Fontana, Calif. Professor Roger Korus provided helpful discussions and manuscript review. This work was funded by a grant from the U.S. EPA-EPSCOR program, Agreement No. UNSPECIFIEDGR827683-01-0.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 132 • Issue 1 • January 2006
Pages: 5 - 12
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Feb 20, 2003
Accepted: Apr 12, 2005
Published online: Jan 1, 2006
Published in print: Jan 2006
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