Publication Cover
Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A
Toxic/Hazardous Substances and Environmental Engineering
Volume 49, 2014 - Issue 13
127
Views
2
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
ARTICLES

Kinetic study of adsorption of arsenic onto New Zealand Ironsand (NZIS)

&
Pages 1474-1480 | Received 11 Feb 2014, Published online: 19 Aug 2014
 

Abstract

New Zealand Ironsand (NZIS), an iron-rich sand ubiquitous to the coast of the North Island of New Zealand was examined for the removal of arsenic (both As (III) and As (V)) by adsorption. Batch experiments were performed to evaluate the adsorption kinetics at three different pH conditions (3.0, 7.5 and 11.0). In addition, a column test was conducted to obtain the breakthrough curve and appraise the arsenic removal capacity of NZIS used as a filter media. The kinetic study showed that a very long contact time (>144 h) was needed to reach equilibrium and the nature of the adsorption was well described (R2 value more than 0.96 at each pH condition) with a pseudo–second-order adsorption kinetic model for both As (III) and As (V). In column tests, a pore volume (PV) of 700 and 400 yielded a total arsenic level less than the WHO guideline value of 10 μg/L for As (III) and As (V), respectively.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their thanks to Mr. Peter McGuigan and Mr. David MacPherson for their excellent technical assistance on this project.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to express their thanks to the Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering, the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand for the internal research grant. Also, the first author is grateful to NZAID for providing a scholarship to study at the University of Canterbury.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.