Removal of Organic Arsenic from Drinking Water

Abstract

Arsenic occurs in both inorganic and organic forms in water. Although various methods have been adopted to remove inorganic forms of arsenic from drinking water, not much emphasis was given for the removal of orgainc forms of arsenic in drinking water. In the present study column studies were conducted using manganese greensand, iron oxide-coated sand (1 and 2) and ion exchange resins in Fe 3+ form, to examine the removal of organic arsenic (dimethylarsinic acid) spiked in tap water. Batch studies were conducted with IOCS-2, and the results showed that the organic arsenic adsorption capacity was 8 μg/g. Higher bed volumes (585) and high arsenic removal capacity (5.69 μg/cm 3 ) were achieved with ion exchange resins among all the media studied. Poor performance was observed with manganese greensand and iron oxide coated sand-1 (IOCS-1).