Arsenic removal by traditional and innovative membrane technologies

Arsenic contamination of surface and groundwater is a worldwide problem in a large number of Countries (Bangladesh, Argentina, USA, Italy, New Zealand, etc.). In many contaminated areas a continuous investigation of the available arsenic removal technologies is essential to develop economical and effective methods for removing arsenic in order to comply with the new Maximum Concentration Level (MCL) standard (10 square g/l) recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Among the available technologies applicable for water treatment, membrane technology has been identified as a promising technology to remove arsenic from water. In this work, both traditional Pressure-driven processes, such as reverse osmosis (RO), nanofiltration (NF), ultrafiltration (UF), microfiltration (MF), and the innovative membrane process, membrane contactor, will be discussed in detail.