Eliminating arsenic from drinking water

27-Jan-2011 - China

An iron-rich, porous material can remove arsenic from drinking water in under two hours. Kang Li and colleagues from Harbin Medical University have removed arsenite, the dominant arsenic ion, from water samples using ferrihydrite – a low cost, natural mineral found on the Earth’s surface. Already known to absorb arsenic, its efficiency is usually hindered by its low surface area. The team overcame this by combining two layers of ferrihydrite, increasing its surface area and loading capacity.

Arsenite was selectively removed from water, even in the presence of other anions with similar molecular structures. Removal of the arsenite from the surface of the ferrihydrite material was easily achieved by washing it with an alkali solultion. After a heat treatment, the mesoporous material could be reused up to ten times.

Li believes that the recycling aspect holds the greatest challenge for future practical applications for the material. “If magnetic nanoparticles could be loaded in the channels of the two-line ferrihydrite, recycling would become even easier,” he says.

Original publication

Z Li, T Zhang and K Li, Dalton Trans., 2011

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