Three-dimensional, printed water-filtration system for economical, on-site arsenic removal

The threat of arsenic contamination to public health, particularly in developing countries, has become a serious problem. Millions of people in their daily lives are still highly dependent on groundwater containing high levels of arsenic, which causes excessive exposure to this toxic element, due to the high cost and lack of water-treatment infrastructures. Therefore, a technique for large-scale treatment of water in rural areas to remove arsenic is needed and should be low-cost, be easily customized, and not rely on electrical power. In this study, in an effort to fulfill those requirements, we introduce a three-dimensional (3D), printed water-filtration system for arsenic removal. Three-dimensional printing can provide a compact, customized filtration system that can fulfill the above-mentioned requirements and that can be made from plastic materials, which are abundant. Armed with the versatility of 3D printing, we were able to design the internal surface areas of filters, after which we modified the surfaces of the 3D, printed filters by using iron (III) oxide as an adsorbent for arsenite. We investigated the effects of the controlled surface area on the flow rate and the deposition of the adsorbent, which are directly related to the adsorption of arsenic. We conducted isotherm studies to quantify the adsorption of arsenic on our 3D, printed filtration system.