Development of Indigenous Iron-Coated Pottery Granules for Arsenic (V) Removal from Groundwater

Abstract

Arsenic is a carcinogenic element capable to get into water bodies and drinking water supplies from natural deposits and industrial practices. Its presence in drinking underground water is highly toxic to human health. The study is focused on the development of indigenous Iron-Coated Pottery Granules (ICPG) to remove As from groundwater of Hala City. The developed ICPG was agitated with local clay white flour and water. A low-cost adsorbent namely ICPG was synthesized for the expulsion of As from underground water. The ICGP was characterized with SEM and FTIR techniques. Furthermore, the impact of physical parameters including adsorbate concentration, dosage, mixing time, pH, and contact time on As removal efficiency was investigated in batch experiments. The maximum removal efficiency was achieved with an adsorbent dosage of 0.5 grams at pH =7 for a contact time of 90 minutes when agitated at a speed of 150 r/min. The arsenic removal efficiency was found highly dependent on contact time increase and optimum pH (maximum removal achieved at strong adsorption of As at pH 4–7), however, the rise of adsorbate concentration resulted in the decrement in the efficiency after certain range. Batch adsorption study of underground water sample collected from Hala, Sindh, Pakistan was performed with satisfactory results, i.e. 94 arsenic removal from water. All the water samples were analyzed through atomic absorption Spectrophotometer. The investigation has indicated that ICPG is an exceptionally favourable material for As removal from drinking underground water and can be applied to handle the arsenic issue in most of the regions of Sindh province.