[Removal of arsenic from dispersed drinking water by iron oxide-coated sand]

The iron oxide-coated sand(IOCS) was developed by treating normal river sand with molysite and investigated by batch, column tests and autoptic experiment to evaluate it's ability of eliminating arsenic from dispersed drinking water. The results showed that IOCS was relatively stable and can be seen iron oxide distributedly patched the surface of sand by scan electron microscope. IOCS needn't any activation pretreatment. It reached the maximum adsorption within 30-60 min. The removal percentage of arsenate was decreased but the one of arsenite had little change when the pH varied from 5 to 9. And the arsenic adsorption matched the Langmuir isotherm. In 5 circles of runs, it treated 408-426 (arsenite) beds and 390-412(arsenate) beds volume of water with 75 g(50 ml) IOCS respectively when the influent arsenic concentration was 1.0 mg.L-1. And the arsenic percentage recovery was above 94% when regenerating the IOCS by 0.2 mol.L-1 NaOH. The home simulation unit contained IOCS 3.0 kg produced 209 L and 198 L, 196 L and 185 L of water when the influent arsenate or arsenite concentration was 1.0 mg.L-1, and 200 L arsenic free water with the influent arsenic 0.202-1.733 mg.L-1 during the field experimental period. The water quality was not affected by the adsorbent. With low-cost and simple operation, the IOCS should be a promising novel medium for arsenic removal in dispersed drinking water.