Dear Madalin Natural source ...

Dear Madalin

Natural source of Manganese is more common in deeper wells where the water has been in contact with rock for a longer time. Manganese is not health concerns in drinking water. Instead, Mn is secondary or recommended drinking water standards because they cause aesthetic problems that make the water undesirable to use in the home and a bitter metallic taste that can make the water unpleasant to drink for humans . The US Environmental Protection Agency has a secondary standard of mangneese is 0.05 mg/l,

The Manganese Treatment Process.

1. Oxidation Followed by Filtration

the most effective treatment involves oxidation followed by filtration. In this process, a chemical is added to convert any dissolved manganese into the solid, oxidized forms that can then be easily filtered from the water. Stronger oxidants can be used in complement such as chlorine dioxide (ClO2), chlorine (Cl2), potassium permanganate (KMnO4) or ozone (O3).
Chlorine is most commonly used as the oxidant although potassium permanganate and hydrogen peroxide can also be used

Mn2+( Oxidation) = Mn4+ (Precipitaion) =MnO2

1. Oxidizing Filters

Oxidizing filters oxidize and filter manganese in one unit. The filter is usually comprised of manganese treated greensand. In the case of a manganese greensand filter, the filter media is treated with potassium permanganate to form a coating that oxidizes the dissolved iron and manganese and then filters them out of the water. Because these units combine oxidation and filtration, they can be used to treat raw water with dissolved and/or oxidized manganese.

1. Other Treatment Methods

The methods described above are the most common processes for removing manganese but others like aeration, ozonation, and catalytic carbon may also be effective. While these units may successfully manganese, their cost should be carefully compared with more traditional treatment methods and, as always, you should obtain a written guarantee of their effectiveness.

Biological removal

In the same way manganese can be removed by biological way. There are bacteria which take their energy from the oxidation of manganese and which require a water with specific conditions to have an optimal activity of the micro-organisms. However, even if it is possible to carry out in the same time the manganese removal by physical-chemical treatment, the same doesn’t go for the biological way. In fact, the manganese specific bacteria need different environmental conditions.

Regards,

Prem Baboo