A Study on the Impact of operational Conditions in the Use of Nanofiltration Technology for Removing Arsenic from Drinking Water

Nowadays, one of the main environmental concerns is the toxicity, caused by arsenic polluted water that could bring about many health problems to human beings such as varied cancer diseases. In natural water there is non-organic arsenic in the form tri oxi anions (arsenite), penta oxi anion (arsenate) of which concentrated large quantities have been spotted in several Iranian governorates such as east Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, and particularly in the city of Bijar. Nanofiltration technology has a good potential for integration with current water treatment plant to perform pollution control. In this paper, in an attempt to enhance the arsenic removal, both arsenite and arsenate with different concentrations feed to a nanofiltaration system. For better understanding of effects of operational conditions, different pressures applied as well as varied temperature. The maximum arsenite removal rate is about 90% at 100µg/l, 7 bar of pressure and 28°C. Moreover, Arsenate removal shows better behavior at higher initial concentration of 1000 µg/l, 7 bar of pressure and 28°C. Increasing the operational pressure has a positive effect in rejection rate. However rising the temperature deteriorated the overall Arsenic removal

Keywords:

Arsenic removal , drinking water , nanofiltration technology , operational conditions , efficiency