New insights on the humic acid uptake by homoionized montmorillonite and CTMA-MMT

M. FERNANDEZ; R. M. TORRES SÁNCHEZ

Budapest

Conferencia; 5th Mid-European Clay Conference; 2010

Contaminated water is one of the biggest problems in the world, not just the low percentage (2.5%) of fresh water available, but the unequal distribution is worrying. To improve the drinking water quality various procedures can be applied according to the characteristics of water contamination. Particularly, the organic matter (OM) in water is responsible, among others, of the water turbidity and enables to the formation of stable aggregates with metals, commonly associated with high levels of microorganisms. The OM consists mainly of humic and fulvic acids, difficult to remove with conventional techniques used in flocculation water treatment processes. As an alternative to conventional drinking water treatment and to reduce the humic acid (HA) content, this work presents the use of homoionic montmorillonites and a cetyl trimethyl ammoniun-montmorillonite (CTMA-MMT) to uptake HA of water.