Aluminum drinking water treatment residuals (Al-WTRs) as sorbent for mercury: Implications for soil remediation

The potential of readily available and non-hazardous waste material, aluminum drinking water treatment residuals (Al-WTRs), to efficiently sorb and immobilize mercury (Hg) from aqueous solutions was evaluated. Al-WTR samples with average specific surface area of 48 m2/g and internal micropore surface area of 120 m2/g were used in a series of batch sorption experiments. Obtained sorption isotherms indicated a strong affinity of Hg for Al-WTRs. Using the Langmuir adsorption model, a relatively high maximum sorption capacity of 79 mg Hg/g Al-WTRs was determined. Sorption kinetic data was best fit to a pseudo-first-order model, while the use of the Weber-Morris and Bangham models suggested that the intraparticle diffusion could be the rate-limiting step. Also, Al-WTRs effectively immoblized Hg in the pH range of 3-8. The results from these short-term experiments demonstrate that Al-WTRs can be effectively used to remove Hg from aqueous solutions. This ability points to the potential of Al-WTRs as a sorbent in soil remediation techniques based on Hg-immobilization.