Iron crosslinked alginate as novel nanosorbents for removal of arsenic ions and bacteriological contamination from water

Fixed-bed column studies were conducted to evaluate performance of Fe (III) crosslinked alginate nanoparticles for the removal of pentavalent arsenic ions [As (V)] from aqueous environments. The study involved observing the influences of column bed depth, influent As (V) concentration and influent flow rates on the removal of arsenic ions. The total adsorbed quantity, equilibrium uptake and total percentage removal of arsenic were determined from the breakthrough curves obtained at different flow rates, initial metal ion concentration and bed heights. The results showed that column demonstrate fairly well performance at the lowest flow rate. Also, column bed capacity and exhaustion time were found to increase with increasing bed height. When initial metal ion concentration was increased from 0.5 mg/L to 1.5 mg/L, the corresponding adsorption bed capacity decreases from 0.066 to 0.022 mg/g. The Bed Depth Service Time (BDST) model was used to analyze the experimental data and the model parameters were evaluated. Good agreement of the experimental breakthrough curves with the model predictions was observed. (C) 2014 Brazilian Metallurgical, Materials and Mining Association. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda.