Additional research into arsenic (III) effective catalytic oxidation in an aqueous solution on a new calcium doped active manganese dioxide in a flow column

Abstract

In many places in the world, groundwater contains arsenic compounds. To purify water containing arsenic effectively, arsenic (III) compounds must be oxidised. The subject of this study is oxidation of arsenic (III) compounds in an aqueous solution in a flow column mode.

The industrial arsenic oxidation technology involving aggressive oxidising agents such as chlorine or ozone, which is used most commonly today, has a number of serious disadvantages. The most problematic include extremely high risks for human health and the environment, the process cost and overall complexity. Catalytic oxidation of arsenic (III) compounds with atmospheric oxygen is an alternative that is free from the above disadvantages. Previously, the author studied the process of effective catalytic oxidation of arsenic (III) on the new active manganese dioxide (NADM) he had synthesised.

Later, however, it turned out that NADM has a significant drawback: during prolonged flow column stops, its catalytic activity drops sharply. This work proposes both a theoretical justification for and a solution to this problem. A new calcium-doped active manganese dioxide NADM-Ca0.5 was synthesised. It was shown that NADM-Ca0.5 demonstrates high catalytic activity towards arsenic (III). The fact that flow column long stops do not affect its catalytic activity was also experimentally confirmed. On the basis of the study results, some theoretical aspects are also discussed of the mechanism for catalytic oxidation of arsenic (III) with oxygen on active manganese dioxide in an aqueous solution.

For successful industrial implementation of the technology for catalytic oxidation of arsenic (III) compounds on NADM-Ca0.5, experimental work on pilot plants in the field is required and further laboratory research is needed in order to develop a detailed theoretical basis for the mechanism of catalytic oxidation of arsenic in aqueous solutions.

The results of this work are of interest for both industrial companies specialising in water purification from arsenic compounds, and scientists and researchers studying catalytic oxidation of arsenic (III), as well as heterogeneous catalytic oxidation with oxygen in general.