Are there solutions for Arsenic and Heavy Metals in natural water systems? Is there scope for an environmental friendly product that reduces As, Cu, Fe, Mn, Al, Zn in this space? I know there is external treatments like RO and Ion Exchange but don't know of any in situ treatments?
Patent no.IN 201811011885 titled BIOREMEDIATION SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR REMOVING DAMAGING HEAVY METALS FROM INDUSTRIAL EFFLUENTS to remove all heavy metals and the several advantages are:
1.Small and basic infrastructure involved .
2.No need of electricity or other equipment’s or any infrastructure.
3. Easy to do.
4. The metal can be reused either within or else in a different industry.
5. Easy to install.
6. Flexible any amount can be taken up as a batch.
7.Absolutely no efforts required.
8.Metal easy to separate using simple chemical and color based reactions.
9.Least man power or human involvement .No machines even required.
10.Stand still and stand alone or if needed can be connected to increase to any size or capacity.
11.Sustainable, no dangerous waste produced.
12, Can be done by any layman with minimum training.
We use our filter media FILTRAPLUS As to remove arsenic and some other heavy metals too. Please be aware, that iron and manganese should be removed as the first step, as these will lower the capacity of FILTRAPLUS As. For manganese we use our filter media FILTRAPLUS Mn as an accelerator and manganese is also removed at a low pH-value of 6.5. In situ treatment can be used for iron and manganese removal as well. This will not remove any other products.
As I can see you're from South Africa. The water hyacinth ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eichhornia_crassipes ) is famous about its Arsenic and heavy metal removal capacity- but this is a plant originated from South-America, and considered to be invasive in Africa, so it is not really applicable in your case.
I would either try to pilot a floating bed wetland of water hyacinth with the plants contained as much as possible (using barriers and filtration methods to prevent invasion) , or try to piloting algae as this study suggests ( https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13201-015-0300-4 ).
My other way of approach would be setting up a flow-through LECA hydroculture of land originated Arsenic-accumulating species like Isatis cappadocica, or more likely Pteris vittata , which is native in South-Africa.
We have an excellent partner to work with in SA, a horticultural expert, helping us procuring very obscure local plants. If you would like to contact him, please send me a private message.
WE have one of the most inexpensive method for Arsenic removal for community water using ZeroValent Iron reactor. This system can achieve arsenic level of < 10 μg/L (WHO guideline) for initial arsenic concentrations of upto 500 μg/L. This system is best suited for Community drinking water, and requires no Electricity, chemical etc. apart from Arsenic As(III) & As(V) it also removes Iron Fe(II) / Fe(III) and Phosphate. With some modifications, other heavy metals can also be removed. You can connect to me for more details - akshay@ifieldenergy.com
The Virtual Curtain technology developed by the CSIRO, Australia's national science agency has the ability to simultaneously remove a range of contaminants. Please contact me at grant.douglas@csiro.au for information.
Filtering through land populated with Elephant Grass is well documented and was proposed for mines in Austria via the EIT Raw Materials R&D work there.
The cost-effective removal with minimum disturbance of both arsenic oxyanion and heavy metal cations from natural water bodies is a challenge. Concentration depends on the pH of the water. The solubility of the negatively charged arsenic complex increases when the pH is raised to decrease the solubilities of the positively charged heavy metal ions, and vice versa. Besides, the optimum for arsenic removal more often is below pH 5, while the optimum for manganese is above pH 9. If you do not want to change the pH of the water body to reach such extreme values, you may like to use a sparely soluble compound that only creates the desired conditions in a thin surface layer between the solid and surrounding water. Ideally, a compound consisting of natural minerals with a high adsorption capacity for arsenic, and of alkalinity producing minerals allowing for the adsorption and precipitation of the heavy metals. Depending on your conditions, various available compounds can be advised or else might be readily prepared for testing. They must be very fine-grained to have enough reactivity and therefore they also must be very dense so that they readily sink to the bottom of the waterbody in which they are introduced. You can mix the compound with a bit of water to produce a slurry that you then spray evenly over the surface of the water body you like to treat. The compound removes the contaminants, while sinking to the bottom, where it binds them long term once concentrated in the sediment. In the laboratory, you first test the effect of the addition of the compound using meter long cylinders with natural water. Then you perform a pilot test on a small screened-off part of the waterbody. You may investigate effect on nekton on the short term, but long-term studies might be required to investigate the effect on benthos.
Iron oxy-hydroxide Fe(OH)3 will "adsorb" some heavy metals. Vertical flow compost based reed beds appear to be effective for Cu removal. VF compost beds can also be utilised for Zn immobilised as either sulphide or carbonate. These passive techniques are all dependent upon water chemistry - mainly interrelationship of alkalinity (v. important) , acidity & pH etc
Hi Dave - our pellet / granule technology is able to permanently 'bind' all of the metals/ metalloids mentioned. Removal rates from mine water are in excess 0f 99.5%. Bound metals will not leach unless placed in an acidic solution with a pH of less than 2.4.
We use our Ironhydroxide adsorption filtermedia (FILTRAPLUS As) for the removal of Arsenic and other heavy metals. Iron and Manganese can be treated with sandfiltration. Aluminium can be filter as well depending on pH-value of the water. Whether Copper will be absorped by FILTRAPLUS As I am not sure, as we do not have any experiences with Copper.
As far as we have experimented most if not all of these pollutants are separated from the clean water by the SolarDew membrane technology, which is in its present form applicable for drinking water. For larger quantities other applications can be developed.
Contact Clearflow Group Inc. To discuss Water Lynx technology. TSS reduction, metals reduction, nutrient reduction. Passive in-situ solutions. Email Jerry@clearflowgroup.com
There is not numerous but few media filters that can be used to treat more or less independently and together these natural pollutant in aquifers. (Except Copper, for which I need to ask my engineers, we made it for each other mentioned).
RO will probably not accept them if too highly concentrate and RO is not that Env. friendly techno.
I did a lot of project as specialized company in natural mineral water in which the treatment should be authorized only if it doesn't exchange ions, modify the natural characteristic of your water.
In terms of environnemental friendly technology, these media filters will need regeneration using chemicals.. So your concept of environmental friendly aspect should be subject of a clear talk and can maybe be addressed.
Graver still offer Metsorb, a titanium oxide based media that removes Arsenic very well and some other heavy metals and metaloids. It might be suitable for your needs
G'day Dave ... we have now completed, with our Chinese associate, more than 120 projects in China for heavy metal remediation of soils and water. We are now ready to look at projects outside of China with this highly advanced technology.
Hi Dave, our ASENFLUO media are able to removes Arsenic and Fluoride at 256.4 mg/grm in the drinking water. Our product are certified for safety disposal for land fill for the spend material.
If you interested in our technology - contact us or visit our wed-site at www.asxban.com
Are there solutions for Arsenic and Heavy Metals in natural water systems? Is there a scope for environmental friendly products that reduce As, Cu, Fe, Mn, Al, Zn in this space?
With all due respect, I say, to get rid of all the above pulps from drinking water, Green Ion Formula can do it with a very natural method and system. Visit my post on LinkedIn.
As I understand your question, you are looking for more natural, non chemical, non mechanical methods for removing these contaminant from a lake, pond, stream or groundwater aquifer. That is a difficult if not impossible task to accomplish. Most of the contaminants you mentioned are naturally occurring in some mineral deposits and as a result leach into water sources with runoff, acid rainfall and normal groundwater percolation.
You can't simply destroy the metals, so to remove them requires some type of coagulation, precipitation or absorption onto another media. For a surface water body, a constructed wetland with carefully selected plants may be the best answer to take advantage of bio-absorption /metal uptake by the wetland plants. At the end of the day though the plants would have to be harvested to remove the metals and the biomass disposed of somewhere, preferably a secure landfill where they won't find their way back to water. I'm not selling anything, just my thoughts on the subject. Good luck, Bob Duff
Aquathin's MultiBarrier RODI Process has been accomplishing removal of the contaminates you mention for 40 years in residential, commercial, industrial and laboratory applications. Here is a small package system:
