REMOVING CONTAMINANTS FROM WATER WITH ADSORBENTS

Abstract

A composition and process for reducing contaminants from water which includes use of a water-insoluble adsorbent having a surface area of at least about 10 m.sup.2/g, where the adsorbent is coated with a water-soluble metal salt.

Claims

1. A composition for reducing contaminants from water comprising a water-insoluble adsorbent having a surface area of at least about 10 m.sup.2/g, where the adsorbent is coated with a water-soluble metal salt.

2. The composition of claim 1, wherein the adsorbent is selected from the group consisting of kaolin, alumina, silica, diatomaceous earth, and mixtures thereof.

3. The composition of claim 1, wherein the water-soluble salt is selected from the group consisting of ferric salts, aluminum salts, and mixtures thereof.

4. The composition of claim 3, wherein the water-soluble salt comprises ferric chloride, ferric nitrate, ferric sulfate, or mixtures thereof.

5. The composition of claim 3, wherein the water-soluble salt comprises aluminum chloride, aluminum nitrate, aluminum sulfate, or mixtures thereof.

6. The composition of claim 1, wherein the weight percent of metal salt coated on the adsorbent is between about 0.07% and about 20% by weight.

7. The composition of claim 6, wherein the weight percent of metal salt coated on the adsorbent is between about 0.1% and about 1.4% by weight.

8. A process for reducing contaminants including selenium and arsenic from contaminated water having a pH in the range of 2 to 12, comprising providing a water-insoluble adsorbent having a surface area of at least about 10 m.sup.2/g, where the adsorbent is coated with a water-soluble metal salt; and contacting the adsorbent with the contaminated water.

9. The process of claim 8, wherein the water-soluble salt is selected from the group consisting of ferric salts, aluminum salts, and mixtures thereof.

10. The process of claim 9, wherein the water-soluble salt comprises ferric chloride, ferric nitrate, ferric sulfate, or mixtures thereof.

11. The process of claim 9, wherein the water-soluble salt comprises aluminum chloride, aluminum nitrate, aluminum sulfate, or mixtures thereof.

12. The process of claim 8, wherein the weight percent of metal salt coated on the adsorbent is between about 0.1% and about 1.4% by weight.

13. The process of claim 8, wherein the pH of the contaminated water is between 4 and 9.

14. The process of claim 8, wherein the coated adsorbent is present in the contaminated water at a level of about 0.5 to about 20 g/liter.

15. The process of claim 14, wherein the coated adsorbent is present in the contaminated water at a level of about 0.5 to about 20 g/liter 2 to about 10 g/liter.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] The disclosure will be better understood and its advantages more apparent when the following detailed description is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0016] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of the disclosure.

BRIEF SUMMARY

[0017] In an embodiment, the present disclosure includes a composition for reducing contaminants from water, the composition comprising a water-insoluble adsorbent having a surface area of at least about 10 m.sup.2/g, where the adsorbent is coated with a water-soluble metal salt. The adsorbent can, in some embodiments, be selected from the group consisting of kaolin, alumina, silica, diatomaceous earth, and mixtures thereof.

[0018] The water-soluble salt is selected from the group consisting of ferric salts, aluminum salts, and mixtures thereof, such as ferric chloride, ferric nitrate, ferric sulfate, or mixtures thereof, and aluminum chloride, aluminum nitrate, aluminum sulfate, or mixtures thereof. The weight percent of metal salt coated on the adsorbent is, in some embodiments, between about 0.07% and about 20% by weight. In other embodiments, the weight percent of metal salt coated on the adsorbent is between about 0.1% and about 1.4% by weight.

[0019] In embodiments, the disclosure also includes a process for reducing contaminants including selenium and arsenic from contaminated water having a pH in the range of 2 to 12, the process including providing a water-insoluble adsorbent having a surface area of at least about 10 m.sup.2/g, where the adsorbent is coated with a water-soluble metal salt; and contacting the adsorbent with the contaminated water. The water-soluble salt is selected from the group consisting of ferric salts, aluminum salts, and mixtures thereof, such as ferric chloride, ferric nitrate, ferric sulfate, or mixtures thereof, and aluminum chloride, aluminum nitrate, aluminum sulfate, or mixtures thereof. The weight percent of metal salt coated on the adsorbent is, in some embodiments, between about 0.07% and about 20% by weight. In other embodiments, the weight percent of metal salt coated on the adsorbent is between about 0.1% and about 1.4% by weight.

[0020] In some embodiments, the pH of the contaminated water is between 4 and 9, and the coated adsorbent is present in the contaminated water at a level of about 0.5 to about 20 g/liter, or even a level of about 0.5 to about 20 g/liter 2 to about 10 g/liter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] In the field of wastewater treatment, adsorption means the adherence or bonding of molecules (or ions) that are previously dissolved in the water phase onto the surface of a solid material that is insoluble in water. The material accumulated at the interface is the adsorbate and the solid surface is the adsorbent. Since adsorption is a surface phenomenon, any insoluble solid having a sufficiently large surface area may be an adsorbent. Other characteristics to be taken into account in choosing an adsorbent are based on criteria such as cost and availability, physical strength in solution (as to avoid disintegration), ability to be regenerated if required, etc.

[0022] Adsorbents can be simply classified as conventional and non-conventional adsorbents. The list of conventional commercial adsorbents includes activated carbons, ion-exchange resins (polymeric organic resins), and inorganic materials such as activated alumina, silica gel, zeolites and molecular sieves. Four types of generic adsorbents have dominated the commercial use of adsorption: activated carbons, silica gel, and activated alumina. Other adsorbents belong to the class of non-conventional adsorbents, like natural materials such as clays, industrial by-products such as red mud, and biosorbents such as chitosan and biomass.

[0023] In selecting an adsorbent for use in the process of the present disclosure, the adsorbent surface area should, in embodiments, be at least about 10 m.sup.2/g. While there is no technical upper limit, in certain embodiments the surface area of the adsorbent is from about 10 m.sup.2/g to about 1000 m.sup.2/g. In yet other embodiments, the surface area of the adsorbent is at least about 40 m.sup.2/g and, in some embodiments is about 40 m.sup.2/g to about 700 m.sup.2/g.

[0024] The adsorbent particles useful in the practice of the process of this disclosure can assume different shapes; for instance, in some embodiments the particles are spherical pellets, rods, or irregularly-shaped. In embodiments the diameter (or average diameter of non-spherical particles) can be between about 3 microns and about 5 mm; in other embodiments it is between about 10 microns and about 2 mm; in yet other embodiments the diameter (or average diameter) of the adsorbent particles is between about 250 microns (i.e., 0.25 mm) and about 1 mm.

[0025] The specific materials used as the adsorbent particles of the present disclosure can be conventional or non-conventional adsorbents. In some embodiments, however, the adsorbent particles are not zeolites or other highly crystalline synthetic materials. The cost of such materials makes them impractical and the internal channel diameter of highly crystalline synthetic materials like zeolites (i.e., often less than 10 angstroms) can, it is believed, lead to the channels being blocked by the metal salts when coated in accordance with this disclosure, thus reducing “available” surface area for adsorption of selenium or arsenic. In certain embodiments, the adsorbent particles are kaolin, acid activated clays, aluminum oxide (Al.sub.2O.sub.3), silicon dioxide (SiO.sub.2), diatomaceous earth, and mixtures thereof.

[0026] The adsorbent selected is coated with a metal salt. In specific embodiments, the metal salt is a ferric salt, an aluminum salt, or mixtures thereof. Any water-soluble ferric salts or aluminum salts can be used. For example, in some embodiments the ferric salt can be any of ferric chloride, ferric nitrate, ferric sulfate, or other water-soluble ferric salts, or mixtures thereof. In some embodiments a suitable aluminum salt can be aluminum chloride, aluminum nitrate, aluminum sulfate, or any other water-soluble aluminum salts, or mixtures thereof. The weight percentage of metal salt coated on the adsorbent particles should, in some embodiments, be between 0.07% and about 20% of the weight of the particles. In other embodiments, the weight percentage of metal salt coating on the adsorbent particles should, in some embodiments, be between 0.1% and about 1.4% of the weight of the particles; in yet another embodiment it should be between about 0.2% and about 0.75% of the weight of the adsorbent particles.

[0027] While the skilled artisan would recognize different processes for coating metal salts on the adsorbent particles, in one embodiment the process can generally involve the following steps: [0028] (1) The desired amount of the selected metal salt is dissolved into water to make a solution. The coating method of this embodiment is generally referred to as the incipient wetness impregnation method that is widely used in producing heterogeneous catalysts in industries. The volume of the salt solution is enough to wet homogeneously all the solid (i.e., adsorbent particles) but not too much to cause a large liquid/solid phase separation. [0029] (2) The wetted adsorbent is calcined in an oven or furnace at an elevated temperature. The temperature in such embodiments should be at least 50° C., or above 70° C., or, in some embodiments, above 100° C. [0030] (3) In some embodiments, the dried adsorbent is ground to fine powder (if powder is the preferable physical form for the selected adsorbent or application method). If the physical form of the selected adsorbent is granular for a particular embodiment, then no grinding or further treatment is needed.

[0031] In an embodiment, in a process for treating contaminated water, such as selenate-containing or arsenic-containing water, the aforementioned metal salt-coated adsorbent is brought into contact with selenate-containing or arsenic-containing water so that the selenate or arsenic in the water is adsorbed by the adsorbent and thereby removed from the water phase. In an embodiment, the adsorbent is present at a level of about 0.5 to about 20 g/liter of contaminated water to be treated. In another embodiment, the adsorbent of the present disclosure is present at a level of about 1 to about 15 g/liter; in yet another embodiment, the adsorbent is present at a level of about 2 to about 10 g/liter.

[0032] There is no particular limit on the type of contaminated (such as selenate/arsenic-containing) water to which process of the present disclosure can be applied. The water can be from various sources such as coal-fired power plant wastewater, mining industry wastewater, natural underground water, or other industrial wastewater. In an embodiment, the contaminated water has a pH of between 2 and 12; in another embodiment the pH of the water is between 3 and 10. In still another embodiment the pH of the contaminated water treated in accordance with this disclosure is between 4 and 9.

[0033] One embodiment of a process of bringing the prepared adsorbent of the present disclosure into contact with contaminated water involves packing the disclosed adsorbent into a treatment tank (in some embodiments such tank is similar to conventional activated carbon adsorption tanks used to treat water or wastewater). In this embodiment, and as would be familiar to the skilled artisan, the treatment conditions include the packed amount of adsorbent, the flow volume, and the treatment temperature determined based on the adsorbent ability and the amount of contaminant such as selenate or arsenic in the water or wastewater (which can be measured, for instance, by Inductively Coupled Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), method EPA 200.8). The flow of water or wastewater can be either downward or upward. In some embodiments a downward flow is utilized because it facilitates recovery of the adsorbent by reversed washing (upward flow). For the disclosed metal salt coated adsorbents, however, recovery may not be necessary due to their low cost compared to conventional adsorbents such as activated carbon or zeolites. Therefore, more flexible engineering designs of the adsorption tanks are possible.

[0034] In another embodiment, a process for use of the metal salt-coated adsorbent of this disclosure is the batch method. Based on the contaminant concentration and the amount of water in the batch, a specific amount of adsorbent is determined as being desired (the determination of which would be known to the skilled artisan, as discussed above), and at least such amount is added into the batch under mixing conditions to form a slurry. The slurry is then discharged to a settling tank and the used adsorbent is filtered through a filtration system.

[0035] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a batch system in accordance with the present disclosure, wherein an inlet 10 for water to be treated, and an inlet 11 for metal salt-coated adsorbent replenishment. The water to be treated is filled into reaction tank 12, will contain contaminants The reaction tank 12 is preferably stirred, such as by rotary rake 14 for a residence time in tank 12 of from about 1 to about 24 hours. The residence time will be selected by the initial concentration of the contaminant, a determination of the degree of contaminant reduction desired and the relative freshness of the adsorbent. Following a sufficient reaction time in reaction tank 12, the mixture of water and sorbent is drained via line 16 to a settling tank 20, from which purified water is extracted via line 22 and adsorbent is removed via line 18 for treatment or disposal.

[0036] The following examples are presented to further explain and illustrate the disclosure and are not to be taken as limiting in any regard. Unless otherwise indicated, all parts and percentages are by weight.

Example 1

[0037] As a control, the adsorption efficiency of several uncoated adsorbents for Se(VI), As(V), and As(III) is analyzed.

[0038] The Se(VI), As(V), and As(III) contaminated water solutions are prepared by dissolving sodium selenate (Na.sub.2SeO.sub.4), sodium arsenate (Na.sub.2HAsO.sub.4.H.sub.2O), and sodium arsenite (NaAsO.sub.2) in water, respectively. All the initial concentrations of Se(VI), As(V), and As(III) water solutions are about 1 ppm (the exact concentration was measured for each test) except where mentioned otherwise.

[0039] The adsorbents used are commercial products acquired or purchased from different US companies. All the adsorbents are in fine powder forms and were tested without any further treatment.

[0040] A typical adsorption test is described as the following: 50 mL of the pre-made 1 mg/L.sup.−1 Se (VI) or As(V) or As(III) solution was added into a 125 mL Erlenmeyer flask. 0.5 g of a solid adsorbent was added into each solution. The adsorbent and the solution are agitated on an orbital shaker at 200 rpm for 30 min. After the adsorption, the mixture was centrifuged at 5,000 rpm for 30 min to separate the adsorbent from water. After the centrifugation, the solid sinks to the bottom. The water on the top is analyzed for the final concentration of Se(VI) or As(V) or As(III) and coated metal ions leached out in the solution based on EPA 200.8 method via Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS). The limit of detection for ICP-MS is 0.1 μg/L.sup.−1 (0.1 ppb). A laboratory pH meter is used for pH measurements.

[0041] The effectiveness of an adsorbent that can remove (adsorb) Se and As oxyanions from water is quantitatively calculated by Removal Efficiency (RE). Removal Efficiency measures the percentage of Se or As removed from water after adsorption compared to the initial concentration under certain experimental conditions. At the same test conditions, higher RE indicates higher adsorption effectiveness of the adsorbent. The RE is calculated as:

RE=[(C.sub.1−C.sub.f)/C.sub.i]×100%

In equations above,

[0042] C.sub.i—initial concentration of Se or As or Fe/Al specie in mg/L.sup.−1 in water before adding adsorbent

[0043] C.sub.f—final concentration of Se or As or Fe/Al specie in mg/L.sup.−1 in water after adding adsorbent, mixing, and centrifuging

[0044] Table 1 shows the results for Se(VI), As(V), and As(III) removal efficiency for five different solid adsorbents. All the adsorbents were tested under the same experimental conditions. The results indicate that without any coating, only activated carbon has a desirable removal efficiency for all three species [89.9% for Se(VI), 99.5% for As(V), and 98.8% for As(III)]. Activated alumina (Al.sub.2O.sub.3) has a desirable removal efficiency for As(V) (99.3%) and As(III) (90.8%), but does not perform well for Se(VI) (54.8%). Kaolin A shows good removal efficiency for As(V) (85.5%), but not very good removal efficiency for Se(VI) (46.1%) and poor removal efficiency for As(III) (8.1%). Both silica (SiO.sub.2) and diatomaceous earth show poor adsorption for all three species.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Adsorption Results of Different Selenium and Arsenic Species in Contaminated Water on Uncoated Adsorbents % Fe.sup.3+/Al.sup.3+ Target Ion (Initial Final Concentration Removal Remain Fe/Al Adsorbent Coated C.sub.0 = 1 ppm) C.sub.f (ppm) Efficiency (%) (ppm) Kaolin A 0 Se(VI) 0.5620 46.12 N/A 0 As(V) 0.1538 85.49 N/A 0 As(III) 0.7815 8.06 N/A Al2O3 0 Se(VI) 0.3880 54.83 NA 0 As(V) 0.0083 99.26 NA 0 As(III) 0.0669 90.75 NA SiO2 0 Se(VI) 0.8470 4.51 N/A 0 As(V) 0.9021 20.10 N/A 0 As(III) 0.9274 2.56 N/A Diatomaceous 0 Se(VI) 1.0900 0.00 N/A Earth (DE) 0 As(V) 1.0845 0.00 N/A 0 As(III) 0.8234 3.13 N/A Powder 0 Se(VI) 0.1050 89.93 N/A Activated 0 As(V) 0.0056 99.47 N/A Carbon (PAC) 0 As(III) 0.0103 98.79 N/A

Example 2

[0045] The process of Example 1 is then repeated using the same adsorbents, but in this case the adsorbents (other than powdered activated carbon) are coated with 0.5% ferric chloride. All test conditions are identical as those of Example 1 (listed in Table 1) except the modified preparation of the adsorbents according to the present disclosure. Powdered activated carbon (PAC) results from Table 1 are used as the benchmark.

[0046] Table 2 shows that the remaining four adsorbents coated with 0.5% ferric salt improve their removal efficiency for Se(VI), As(V), and As(III) dramatically. Kaolin A now has more than 99% removal efficiency for Se(VI), As(V), and As(III). Alumina and diatomaceous earth both have more than 98% removal efficiency for Se(VI), As(V), and As(III). Silica also shows more than 90% removal efficiency for Se(VI), As(V), and As(III).

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Adsorption Results of Different Selenium and Arsenic Species in Contaminated Water on Ferric-coated Adsorbents % Fe.sup.3+ Target Ion (Initial Final Concentration Removal Remain Fe Adsorbent Coated C.sub.0 = 1 ppm) C.sub.f (ppm) Efficiency (%) (ppm) Kaolin A 0.5 Se(VI) <0.001 >99.90 3.31 0.5 As(V) 0.0016 99.86 1.04 0.5 As(III) 0.0039 99.59 0.14 Al2O3 0.5 Se(VI) <0.001 >99.88 0.44 0.5 As(V) 0.0164 98.55 0.40 0.5 As(III) 0.0114 98.42 0.35 SiO2 0.5 Se(VI) 0.0420 95.47 0.25 0.5 As(V) 0.0105 99.05 0.36 0.5 As(III) 0.0763 90.70 0.19 Diatomaceous 0.5 Se(VI) 0.0180 98.24 0.85 Earth (DE) 0.5 As(V) 0.0016 99.86 0.33 0.5 As(III) 0.0030 99.64 0.72

Example 3

[0047] The process of Example 1 is then repeated using the same adsorbents, except the adsorbents (other than powdered activated carbon) are coated with 0.5% aluminum chloride. All test conditions are identical as those of Example 1 (listed in Table 1) except the coating of the adsorbents. PAC results from Table 1 again provide a benchmark.

[0048] Table 3 shows the remaining four adsorbents coated with 0.5% aluminum salt (aluminum chloride for these results) improve their removal efficiency for Se(VI), As(V), and As(III) dramatically. Kaolin A and silica both show more than 98.5% removal efficiency for Se(VI), As(V), and As(III). Alumina shows more than 95% removal efficiency for Se(VI), As(V), and As(III). Diatomaceous earth shows more than 96% removal efficiency for Se(VI), As(V), and As(III).

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Adsorption Results of Different Selenium and Arsenic Species in Contaminated Water on Aluminum-coated Adsorbents % Al.sup.3+ Target Ion (Initial Final Concentration Removal Remain Al Adsorbent Coated C.sub.0 = 1 ppm) C.sub.f (ppm) Efficiency (%) (ppm) Kaolin A 0.5 Se(VI) <0.001 >99.90 11.70 0.5 As(V) 0.0125 98.89 13.1 0.5 As(III) 0.0133 98.60 12.7 Al2O3 0.5 Se(VI) 0.0290 96.80 5.58 0.5 As(V) 0.0503 95.54 5.81 0.5 As(III) 0.0386 95.60 5.87 SiO2 0.5 Se(VI) 0.0110 98.79 6.40 0.5 As(V) 0.0081 99.28 5.57 0.5 As(III) 0.0085 99.11 5.41 Diatomaceous 0.5 Se(VI) 0.0030 99.71 6.12 Earth (DE) 0.5 As(V) <0.001 >99.86 4.21 0.5 As(III) 0.0367 96.14 6.59

[0049] All references cited in this specification, including without limitation, all patents, patent applications, and publications, and the like, are hereby incorporated by reference into this specification in their entireties. The discussion of the references herein is intended merely to summarize the assertions made by their authors and no admission is made that any reference constitutes prior art. Applicant reserves the right to challenge the accuracy and pertinence of the cited references.

[0050] Although embodiments of the disclosure have been described using specific terms, devices, and methods, such description is for illustrative purposes only. The words used are words of description rather than of limitation. It is to be understood that changes and variations may be made by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit or the scope of the present disclosure, which is set forth in the following claims. In addition, it should be understood that aspects of the various embodiments may be interchanged in whole or in part. For example, while methods for the production of a commercially sterile liquid nutritional supplement made according to those methods have been exemplified, other uses are contemplated. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the versions contained therein.