Arsenic removal from aqueous solutions by ultrafiltration assisted with polyacrylamide: an application of response surface methodology

Abstract

The present work deals with removal of arsenic from aqueous solutions by ultrafiltration assisted with polyacrylamide as an environmental friendly complexing polymer. The system performance was evaluated in relation to quality of permeate in terms of operating variables as feed concentration of arsenic ions (C_o, μg L⁻¹), ratio of polymer to arsenic (r, w/w), and pH of feed solution. The effect of the operating variables and maximum arsenic removal efficiency was determined by adopting design of experiments and response surface methodology under different conditions for this polymer. The experimental data were analyzed with a second order polynomial model validated by statistical analysis. Based on the response model developed, the maximum removal efficiency, close to 100%, of arsenic ions has been obtained at optimum operating parameters as C_o: 150 μg L⁻¹, r: 2, and pH 10.

Keywords:

• Arsenic removal
• Ultrafiltration
• Polyacrylamide
• Complexation
• Response surface model

Acknowledgment

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the Nigde University Scientific Research Projects Unit with a research grant of BAP-FEB2010/22.

Notes

At the time of the study, the authors Nigmet Uzal and Bekir Varol were affiliated with the Department of Environmental Engineering, Nigde University, 51240 Nigde, Turkey