The application of reused powdered wastes as adsorbent for treating arsenic containing mine drainage

This study examined the potential reuse of powdered wastes (PW) generated during the sanding and sawing process in a local chemical company in Korea with the viewpoint of the recycling these wastes and minimizing the level of contamination. The PW contained 40-60% aluminum hydroxide and 30-45% matrix resin. As a potential adsorbent, the suitability of thermal treated PW to remove arsenic from synthetic and real wastewater was investigated. As a pretreatment process, the reused adsorbent from PW was calcined at 550 degrees C for 3 hrs in a furnace. The calcination characteristics of PW were examined both quantitatively and qualitatively by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and qualitatively by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The major inorganic composition of the calcined PW (CPW) was aluminum oxide with poor crystallinity. The CPW contained well developed meso-pores (0.143 cm(3) g(-1)) and showed a specific surface area of 234 m(2) g(-1). The pH of the zero point charge (pH(pzc)) of the CPW was determined to be 7.8 by acid-base titration. From the batch adsorption tests, the complete removal of arsenic (up to 20 mg L(-1)) was observed with CPW (2 g) at pH ranging from 3.0 to 8.0. However, there was a significant decrease in arsenate adsorption at higher pH. A kinetics study indicated that the uptake of arsenate followed a second-order rate equation. In the presence of sulfate, the removal of arsenate was increasingly affected by the sulfate concentration. The application of CPW to the removal of 4 different real mine drainages was also carried out. Mine drainage contains a relatively high arsenate concentration as well as sulfate. Whilst the amount of arsenic removed from real mine drainage by CPW was slightly lower than that removed from synthetic wastewater due to competitive sorption by multiple ions, the adsorption of arsenate showed rapid removal within 10 min with good removal efficiency, which meets the national wastewater discharge limits. These results suggest that CPW is a good adsorbent for removing arsenic from synthetic and real mine drainage.