Arsenic (V) removal from aqueous system using adsorbent developed from a high iron-containing fly ash

A novel adsorbent for arsenic (V) removal from wastewater was developed through simple chemical processes using a special iron-abundant fly ash. In the synthesis process, the inherent iron in the fly ash was rearranged and loaded on the surface of the fly ash by dissolution and precipitation processes. The adsorbent (HIOFAA) was characterized by XRD, FT-IR, SEM, LPS and BET surface area. The results showed that porous amorphous FeOOH was loaded on the surface of HIOFAA successfully. The BET surface area of HIOFAA was 22 times of those of the original fly ash, and furthermore, the mean particle size of HIOFAA increased 3 times compared to the raw fly ash, thus effectively accelerated the solid/liquid separation after the adsorptive treatment. The adsorption isotherm data could be well described by Langmuir isotherm model, and the adsorption capacity for arsenic removal was 19.46 mg g− 1. Accordingly, it is believed that the adsorbent developed in this study is effective for arsenic polluted wastewater treatment.