title: Arsenate removal using a combination treatment of precipitation and nanofiltration.
abstract: A combination treatment of Ca-precipitation and nanofiltration membrane was studied to remove arsenate from water. The selected nanofiltration membrane was an amphoteric charged membrane, proved by the results of ATR-FTIR spectra and zeta potential. The arsenate and calcium removal efficiencies had the lowest values at the isoelectric point of the nanofiltration membrane, attributed to the loosest steric hindrance and the weakest electrostatic repulsion. Above the isoelectric point, arsenate precipitated with calcium ion to form the low solubility compound calcium arsenate, while steric hindrance was the main mechanism of arsenate removal. In contrast, below the isoelectric point, the nanofiltration membrane with positive charges rejected calcium ion by electrostatic repulsion. The high electrostatic shielding of calcium ion prevented arsenate from coming close to the NF membrane. Either high feed arsenate concentration or high calcium oxide dose improved the removal amount of arsenate during the nanofiltration membrane separation process. In addition, the arsenate removal efficiency approached the highest value at 200 μg/L of feed arsenate concentration. The optimal transmembrane pressure was in a range of 0.5-0.7 MPa to restrict the formation of fouling cake on the nanofiltration membrane surface.
authors.affiliation: Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: F F
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D001149:Arsenates / Q000737:chemistry*; D002118:Calcium / Q000737:chemistry*; D011232:Chemical Precipitation; D005374:Filtration / Q000379:methods; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D001149:Arsenates; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D002118:Calcium