Regenerating Iron-Based Adsorptive Media Used for Removing Arsenic from Water
Author(s)
Ilaria Ceccarelli
Luca Filoni
Massimiliano Poli
Ciro Apollonio
Andrea Petroselli
Date Issued
2023
Type
article
Journal
Abstract
Of all the substances that can be present in water intended for human consumption, arsenic
(As) is one of the most toxic. Many treatment technologies can be used for removing As from water,
for instance, adsorption onto iron media, where commercially available adsorbents are removed and
replaced with new media when they are exhausted. Since this is an expensive operation, in this work,
a novel and portable plant for regenerating iron media has been developed and tested in four real
case studies in Central Italy. The obtained results highlight the good efficiency of the system, which
was able, from 2019 to 2023, to regenerate the iron media and to restore its capability to adsorb the
As from water almost entirely. Indeed, when the legal threshold value of 10 g/L is exceeded, the
regeneration process is performed and, after that, the As concentration in the water effluent is at the
minimum level in all the investigated case studies.