Arsenic Adsorption Isotherms of Sediments from Old Mining Area and Their Implications: A Case Study of the Ron Phibun Area, Thailand

Abstract

Although tin mining activities in the southern part of Thailand have been abandoned for more than 40 years, arsenic contamination in old tin-mining areas continues to pose a health risk. Fortunately, natural adsorption of arsenic by sediment has reduced the arsenic concentration in water to the maximum allowable level within a 10-kilometre radius of the mine sources. This article attempts to characterize the arsenic adsorption properties of sediment along a water creek which passes through the old tin-mine areas in Ron Phibun district, Nakhon Si Thammarat province, Thailand, where the contamination has been most severe. It was found that Fe tends to be associated with the adsorption capacity of arsenic in sediment. However, pH 4 and pH 7 did not associate with adsorption capacity. At pH 12, the solubility of arsenic increases, making it less likely to be adsorbed into the sediment and more likely to dissolve in water. For the adsorption isotherms of the sediment, the so-called ‘2-step Langmuir/Freundlich models’, with the advance of switching functions (Logistic or Arctan functions), were proposed. Then, based on the principle of parsimony, a stepwise model reduction approach was used to choose the optimal models. It was found that the isotherms were used successfully to describe the historical arsenic-contamination data of the past 14 years (2005 - 2019) and to predict future trends qualitatively. HIGHLIGHTS Two-step Langmuir/Freundlich models with the switching functions were proposed The historical arsenic-contamination data of the past 14 years (2005 - 2019) was examined The model described the historical arsenic-contamination data as a function of pH and metal-complex formation in sediment soils successfully GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT