Biosorptive removal of arsenic from drinking water

A biomass derived from the plant Momordica charantia has been found to be very efficient in arsenic(III) adsorption. An attempt was made to use this biomass for arsenic(III) removal under different conditions. The parameters optimized were contact time (5–150min), pH (2–11), concentration of adsorbe...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bioresource technology 2009-01, Vol.100 (2), p.634-637
Main Authors: Pandey, Piyush Kant, Choubey, Shweta, Verma, Yashu, Pandey, Madhurima, Chandrashekhar, K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Absorption
adsorbents
Adsorption
Arsenic
Arsenic - isolation & purification
Arsenic - metabolism
Biological and medical sciences
Biomass
Bioreactors - microbiology
Biotechnology
detoxification (processing)
drinking water
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Momordica charantia
Water Pollutants, Chemical - isolation & purification
Water Pollutants, Chemical - metabolism
water pollution
Water Purification - methods
Water Supply - analysis
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A biomass derived from the plant Momordica charantia has been found to be very efficient in arsenic(III) adsorption. An attempt was made to use this biomass for arsenic(III) removal under different conditions. The parameters optimized were contact time (5–150min), pH (2–11), concentration of adsorbent (1–50g/l), concentration of adsorbate (0.1–100mg/l), etc. It was observed that the pH had a strong effect on biosorption capacity. The optimum pH obtained for arsenic adsorption was 9. The influence of common ions such as Ca2+, Mg2+, Cd2+, Se4+, Cl−, SO42-, and HCO3-, at concentrations varying from 5 to 1000mg/l was investigated. To establish the most appropriate correlation for the equilibrium curves, isotherm studies were performed for As(III) ion using Freundlich and Langmuir adsorption isotherms. The pattern of adsorption fitted well with both models. The biomass of M. charantia was found to be effective for the removal of As(III) with 88% sorption efficiency at a concentration of 0.5mg/l of As(III) solution, and thus uptake capacity is 0.88mg As(III)/gm of biomass. It appears that this biomass should be used as a palliative food item. Further it also appears that the dietary habits may play a role in the toxic effects of ingested arsenic.
ISSN:0960-8524
1873-2976
DOI:10.1016/j.biortech.2008.07.063