Fabrication and Preliminary Assessment of Fixed Adsorption Column for Arsenic (As) Removal Using Local Rice Husk

Abstract

Arsenic (As) being a carcinogenic element present in drinking water in the less developed areas in the deprived countries contributes to many infectious diseases. The removal of arsenic traces from water needs to have an easy and efficient way for poor countries. Concerning this, a low-cost bio-adsorbent from Rice husk is prepared to remove arsenic from groundwater. Preparation of the absorbent is performed by crushing, sieving, washing and drying the rice husk. The Arsenic present in groundwater samples before and after treatment were tested by Arsenic kit. Batch experiments were carried out with ten contaminated samples of groundwater from Indus river origin area (Nasarpur) to investigate the influence of operating parameters such as adsorbent bed height (ABH) and initial arsenic concentration and residence time(TR) on As removal efficiency using locally fabricated adsorption column. Environmental parameters such as pH, temperature, TDS, and EC were also determined. It was observed that the highest optimized removal efficiency of 90% was achieved at ABH 30 cm: residence time, 60 minutes for feed arsenic concentration of 80 ppb samples. These results suggest that this bio-adsorbent can provide an easy, efficient, and economical method for removing As ions from effluents and water resources.