Practical performance and its efficiency of arsenic removal from groundwater using Fe-Mn binary oxide

A treatment unit packed by granular adsorbent of Fe-Mn binary oxide incorporated into diatomite (FMBO(1:1)-diatomite) was studied to remove arsenic from anaerobic groundwater without any pre-treatment or post-treatment. The raw anaerobic groundwater containing 35–45 μg/L of arsenic was collected from suburb of Beijing. Arsenic(III) constituted roughly 60%–80% of the total arsenic content. Approximately 7,000 bed volumes (ratio of effluent volume to adsorbent volume) treated water with arsenic concentration below 10 μg/L were produced in the operation period of four months. The regeneration of FMBO(1:1)-diatomite had been operated for 15 times. In the first stage, the regeneration process significantly improved the adsorption capacity of FMBO(1:1)-diatomite. With increased loading amount of Fe-Mn binary oxide, the adsorption capacity for arsenic decreased 20%–40%. Iron and manganese in anaerobic groundwater were oxidized and adsorptive filtrated by FMBO(1:1)-diatomite efficiently. The final concentrations of iron and manganese in effluents were nearly zero. The continued safe performance of the treatment units proved that adsorbent FMBO(1:1)-diatomite had high oxidation ability and exhibited strong adsorptive filtration.