Arsenic Removal from Drinking Water Using Carbon Nanotubes

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Recommended: What are the effects of groundwater pollution

High concentrations of arsenic are found naturally in groundwater worldwide and pose a potential health hazard to humans from long-term exposure. Arsenic exposure can come from drinking water, contaminated irrigated crops, and food preparation with contaminated water. The organic form of arsenic is less harmful than the inorganic form. The inorganic form of arsenic is present in groundwater and highly toxic, therefore hazardous to humans. Long-term exposure to arsenic in water can cause numerous health problems, primarily skin, bladder, and lung cancer. Additional studies have also indicated that the ingestion of arsenic may lead to internal malignancies, such as cancers of the kidney, bladder, liver, lung, and other organs (Naghizadeh et al, 2012). For these reasons the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have set the drinking water standard to 10 parts per billion or 10 μg/L (Ma et al, 2013;Velickovic et al, 2011). Certain countries such as India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and the southwestern United States are afflicted with high levels of arsenic in their groundwater much larger than this set standard, and are therefore in need of an efficient treatment process for arsenic removal (Vadahanambi et al, 2013).

Key Terms & Definitions

Arsenic: a grayish white element with a metallic luster, vaporizes when heated and can form into poisonous compounds

Carbon Nanotubes: alloptropes of carbon with a cylindrical nanostrucutre

Functionalization: surface modification onto a material (CNTs for the purpose of this paper)

Alternate carbon-based adsorbents: granulated activated carbon (GAC), powdered activated carbon (PAC)

Background

Studies have found Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) c...

... middle of paper ...

...l of Hazardous Materials, 142(1-2),1-53.

Naghizadeh, A., Yari, A. R., Tashauoei, H. R., Mahdavi, M., Derakhshani, E., Rahimi, R., Bahmani, P., Daraei, H., & Ghahremani, E. (2012). Carbon nanotubes technology for removal of arsenic from water. Archives of Hygiene Science,1(1), 6-11.

Ntim, S. & Mitra, S. (2011). Removal of Trace Arsenic To Meet Drinking Water Standards Using Iron Oxide Coated Multiwall Carbon Nanotubes. Journal of Chemical Engineering Data, 56. 2077-2083.

Rao, G., Lu, C., & Su, F (2007). Sorption of divalent metal ions from aqueous solution by carbon nanotubes: a review. Separation and Purification Technology, 58(2007), 224-231.

Upadhyayula, V. K.K., Deng, S., Mitchell, M.C., & Smith, G. B. (2009). Application of carbon nanotube technology for removal of contaminants in drinking water: A review, Science Total Environment, 408(1), 1-13.

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