Arsenic Removal from Groundwater by Using Graphene Oxide Adsorption.

LUIS F. MATAMALA; GUSTAVO MORALES; ÁLVARO VIDELA

Santiago

Seminario; Hydroprocess 2016; 2016

Gecamin

Arsenic (As) is a main concern in drinking water on North of Chile and Argentina. Latest development has shown graphene oxide as a promising alternative for water treatment given its high adsorption capacity of contaminants, mainly due to its high specific surface and surface functionality. Along the present paper, we show results of adsorption laboratory results by using graphene oxide (GO) as synthetized in our laboratory to clean four water field samples as provided by Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, Córdoba, Argentina. The water samples were analysed using an Inductively Couple Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) to measure initial and final (after 24 hours) arsenic concentration. The groundwater samples were taken from south of Córdoba, Argentina, a known agricultural zone. The natural presence of Arsenic concentrations is believed to be due to the volcanic activity in the area. Arsenic adsorption was performed on 10 mL of water sample, which was mixed with a 1 mg/ml GO concentration in a batch system. Samples were exposed to GO adsorption during 24 hours at room temperature and natural pH (pH 8.4). After adsorption, samples were centrifuged at 4000 RPM to separate organic GO from the supernatant water who was analysed by using an ICP-MS to measure Arsenic contain. The laboratory result shows that synthetized GO was able to remove 32% of the total Arsenic in one step.