Application of activated carbon fiber (ACF) for arsenic removal in aqueous solution

Abstract

The adsorption of arsenic from aqueous solution using activated carbon fiber (ACF) was investigated. Several series of experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of operating parameters such as equilibrium time, flow rate, and initial concentration that affect to the adsorption rate. Average removal efficiency was 24% for the initial arsenic concentration of 10 mg/L to 17 mg/L. Breakthrough point in ACF unit reached at 5 hours of the experimental operation for aqueous solution containing arsenic. Adsorption capacity of the filter was found to be 0.18 mg/mg of ACF. With the increase of flow rate there was a slight increase in the removal of arsenic. Field tests from thirty contaminated sites in Sonarang, Bangladesh have shown that the arsenic removal efficiency was only 13.0% in the single ACF unit, while it was increased upto 24.6% in two ACF units in series. Among the several fitting regression curves tested, three dimensional non-linear regressions gave over 90% fitting, while for other linear regression curves it was in the range of 5 to 92% depending upon the various operating parameters. Non-linear models described the relationships of C with C 0 and t better than the linear ones, and this model gives a good generalization of the kinetics of arsenic in ACF for the laboratory tested ranges.

Equilibrium arsenic adsorption onto metallic oxides : Isotherm models, error analysis and removal mechanism

“…Especially, developing countries have to consider low-cost and simple removal techniques [1]. Several techniques of arsenic removal, such as precipitation, ion-exchange, adsorption, reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration, are already available [2]. Adsorption has also emerged as a more popular alternative technique due to its simplicity, potential to offer a sludge-free operation and availability of using many kinds of adsorbents [3,4].…”

Reductions in cod and acute toxicity of wastewater generated from refined cotton production using activated carbon fibre (ACF)

“…Of the available adsorbents, powdered activated carbon (PAC) and granular activated carbon (GAC) are commonly used due to their great affinity for organics (Mangun et al, 2001). In recent years, ACF has been applied in the treatment of pesticides wastewater (Murayama et al, 2003;Diaz-Flores et al, 2006), arsenic-contaminated water (Lee, 2010), trichloroethylene contaminated water (Miyake et al, 2003), p-nitroaniline contained water (Zheng et al, 2007), bisphenol contained water (Kuramitz et al, 2004), and carbon disulfide contained water (Yang et al, 2006). In recent years, ACF has been applied in the treatment of pesticides wastewater (Murayama et al, 2003;Diaz-Flores et al, 2006), arsenic-contaminated water (Lee, 2010), trichloroethylene contaminated water (Miyake et al, 2003), p-nitroaniline contained water (Zheng et al, 2007), bisphenol contained water (Kuramitz et al, 2004), and carbon disulfide contained water (Yang et al, 2006).…”

“…However, activated carbon fibre (ACF) has a uniform micropore structure with high specific surface (up to 2500 m 2 g −1 ), excellent mechanical integrity , is readily processed, has a high mass transfer rate and can be used to remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from polluted air (Mori et al, 2005;Tao et al, 2006;Yi et al, 2009;Fournel et al, 2010;Ramos et al, 2010). In recent years, ACF has been applied in the treatment of pesticides wastewater (Murayama et al, 2003;Diaz-Flores et al, 2006), arsenic-contaminated water (Lee, 2010), trichloroethylene contaminated water (Miyake et al, 2003), p-nitroaniline contained water (Zheng et al, 2007), bisphenol contained water (Kuramitz et al, 2004), and carbon disulfide contained water (Yang et al, 2006). However, to the authors' knowledge, there is no published information on the treatment of RCP wastewater using ACF as an adsorbent to reduce the wastewater levels of COD and acute toxicity.…”