Groundwater arsenic filter based on composite iron matrix: Performance and large scale deployment Abul Hussam Department of Chemistry

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Groundwater arsenic filter based on composite
iron matrix Performance and large scale
deployment Abul HussamDepartment of Chemistry
Biochemistry George Mason University,
Fairfax, Virginia, USAAbul K. M.
MunirEnvironment InitiativeSono Diagnostics
Inc. Kushtia, BANGLADESHPresented at
International Conf on Arsenic Mitigation in
Bangladesh, January 06, 2006
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OUTLINE

• Occurrence and Toxicity
• Groundwater Arsenic Distribution and Speciation
• Filter Development and Measurements
• Filter Quality Comparison by ETVAM
• Filter Distribution and Future Outlook

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Tube-wells in Bangladesh
4000 ppb As (Total) Bheramara, Kushtia
170 ppb As(Total) Sadar Kushtia
Arsenic free well Sadar, Kushtia
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Distribution of Inorganic Arsenic Species Based
on pKa
H3AsO3
HAsO42-
H2AsO4-
HAsO42-
H2AsO4-
H2AsO3-
Left Theoretical distribution of H3AsO4
species Right As(III) and As(V) distribution
based on 50 ug each
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Sono Water Filter- Model 45-25 (25 L Unit)
Composite Fe-Matrix
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Simple and Effective Arsenic Filter Based on
Fe-Composite
SONO BUCKET FILTERS Flow 20-50 Liters per
hour As(Total) lt 10 ppb (CL 95) As(III) lt 2 ppb
(CL 99.9) Life 5 Years Minimum Maintenance
Very low Cost US 35.00 - 40.00 Waste
Completely nontoxic Government approved and
ETVAM program verified
SONO TWIN FILTER
SONO BUCKET FILTER
Arsenic filters were developed by a team led by
Prof. Hussam and Dr. Munir of Sono/MSUK of
Kushtia, Bangladesh
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RAPID ASSESSMENT BAMWSP/DFID/WATER AID Phase II
Report, March 2001, WS Atkins
Sono 3-K CIM
BDL-13-28 ppb 34 L/day Tk 300
T Ion Exchange, USA
3-38-220 ppb 201 L/day Tk 12000
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Active Material Composite Iron Matrix (CIM)
CIM
PROC CAST IRON
ORG CAST IRON
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Active MaterialComposite Iron Matrix
(CIM)  Uniform, porous, lighter, and less fines
  Preformed Hydrous Ferric Oxide
(HFO)   Active-surface with large surface
area  Insitu continuous formation of HFO during
filtration  Continuously increased
capacity  Removes many other toxic inorganic
and organics (lit evidence)  Extremely low
disposal hazard  Indigenous, inexpensive
(35.00 -45.00 ), and long lasting(gt5
yrs)Charcoal Cooking Wood  Removes organic
compounds - Pesticide residuesInactive
MaterialsSand Processed River Sand and Brick
Chips   Flow stabilizer   Disperser   Coarse
particulate filter   Mechanical stability
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SONO Production Facility Kushtia
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Arsenic Removal Performance of Four Filters
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2
3
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Blue As in Tubewell water, Pink Filtered water.
Right graph shows progressive decrease in
arsenic. Initial Fe total 6.46 mg/L (4)
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Performance of Blank Filters

• Figure shows blank filters maximum contaminant
  limit (MCL) breakthrough occurs the first day
  even at 88 L.
• Groundwater composition As(III) 300 ug/L,
  As(total) 996 ug/L, and Fe(II) 1.0 mg/L.
• The filtered water properties Sand Temperature
  27.3 ?C, pH 7.6 ? 0.1, TDS 210 ? 6 (us/cm), Eh
  158 ? 6 mV vs. NHE.
• SandBrickCharcoal Temperature 25.7 ?C, pH 7.9
  ? 0.1, TDS 208 ? 12 (us/cm), Eh 148 ? 6 mV vs.
  NHE. Filtered water has no detectable total Fe
  (III II).

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Authors Home Court Para, Kushtia
Village Home Khordosadhua, Koksha, Kushtia
Years in use 4.5 3.2 Total water filter (L)
125,000 L 100,000 As(T) influent (ppb)
155 7 600 6 As(T) filtered (ppb) 7
1 8 1 Fe(T) influent (ppm) 4.85
0.25 5.09 Fe(T) filtered (ppm) 0.228
0.04 0.245 0.05 Cost (Taka)/L 0.016 0.024
N 110 56
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SONO Filter Performance in the Field
Parameters Fatic Alampur Kaliskhnpur Juniadah
Years 2.32 3.6 4.4 2.5
Water Yield (L) 67,760 104,960 128,480 72,960
Number of Measurements 10 14 56 8
As(Total)- Input, ppb 32 7 410 15 1139 89 2423 87
As(Total), Filter, ppb lt2 8 2 7 2 8 4
Fe(Total) Input, ppm 20.70.6 10.86 0.56 1.53 0.08 0.6 0.03
Fe(Total) Filter, ppm 0.22 0.02 0.242 0.03 0.25 0.05 0.26 0.03
Cost, Taka/L 0.031 0.020 0.016 0.028
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Four Approved Filters Environmental Technology
Verification Program Bangladesh Council of
Scientific Research, March 4, 2004
Parameter Bangladesh Standard ALCAN Alumina SONO Comp Fe-Mtrx READ-F Cerium IE SIDCO Micro FeO
As(Total), ug/L 50 58 ? 12 (57 ? 24)a 17 ? 15 (6 ? 1)a 16 ? 17 (7? 5)a 36 ? 32 (22 ? 4)a
As(III), ug/L na 35 ? 12 (36 ? 19)a 8 ? 7 (4 ? 1)a 6 ? 5 (5 ? 2)a 13 ? 16 (6 ? 4)a
Fe (total), mg/L 0.3 (1.0) 0.6 ? 0.2 0.06 ? 0.04 0.16 ? 0.21 0.2 ? 0.1
Phosphate, mg/L 6 0.5 ? 0.2 0.9 ? 0.6 0.9 ? 0.6 1.1 ? 1.5
Sulfate, mg/L 100 68 ? 77 12 ? 2 No data No data
Silicate, SiO2, mg/L 11 ? 2 18 ? 6 No data No data
Al, mg/L 0.1 (0.2) 0.17 ? 0.07 0.11 ? 0.02 No data No data
Ca, mg/L 75 (200) No data 104 ? 18 No data No data
Mn, mg/L 0.1 (0.5) 1.4 ? 0.2 0.22 ? 0.12 No data 0.5 ? 0.4
Mg, mg/L No data 50 ? 17 No data No data
pH 6.5 8.5 7.3 ? 0.17 7.6 ? 0.1 7.4 ? 0.4 7.4 ? 0.3
Flow rate (L/h) 128 ? 7 17? 3 61 ? 6 264 ? 37
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ETVAM Manganese (Mn) Data Summary (BCSIR/OCETA
Test), March 04, 2004 (Bangladesh limit is 0.500
mg/L)
Filter Technology Region Influent Mn mg/L Effluent Mn mg/L
ALCAN Bera 4.51 ? 0.26 (n6) 4.21 ? 0.21 (n12)
ALCAN Hajiganj 0.09 ? 0.06 (n7) 0.17 ? 0.29 (n 13)
ALCAN Manikganj 0.51 ? 0.10 (n6) 0.44 ? 0.11 (n11)
ALCAN Nawabganj 2.47 ? 0.24 (n10) 1.99 ? 0.55 (n 20)
ALCAN Faridpur 0.15 ? 0.05 (n9) 0.17 ? 0.03 (n 14)
SIDCO Bera 1.07 ? 0.11 (n 7) 0.58 ? 0.12 (n15)
SIDCO Hajiganj 0.07 ? 0.04 (n10) 0.06 ? 0.03 ( n19)
SIDCO Manikganj 0.37 ? 0.04 (n6) 0.33 ?0.02 (n 12)
SIDCO Nawabganj 1.50 ? 0.07 (n7) 1.06 ? 0.41 (n17)
SIDCO Faridpur 0.60 ? 0.04 (n6) 0.51 ? 0.07 (n9)
SONO Bera 0.64 ? 0.22 (n10) 0.09 ? 0.07 (n18)
SONO Hajiganj 0.04 ? 0.03 (n7) 0.3 ? 0.19 (n14)
SONO Manikganj 0.72 ? 0.06 (n12) 0.26 ? 0.19 (n18)
SONO Nawabganj 1.93 ? 0.21 (n10) 0.28 ? 0.16 (n20)
SONO Faridpur3 0.22 ? 0.07 (n13) 0.11 ? 0.11 (n18)
READ-F NO Data on Mn Analysis. NO Data on Mn Analysis

• ? denotes one standard deviation 2. n is the
  number of observations
• 3. In Faridpur (Bhanga) one effluent Mn
  concentration was 60.02 mg/L (in day 11) probably
  this is a wrong entry, we omit this figure in our
  calculation.

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Possible physicochemical reactions in different
parts of the filtration process. CIM- Composite
Iron Matrix

Top layer Oxidation of soluble iron Oxidation of
ferrous iron  
Fe(II) O2 ? O2.- Fe(III)OH2 Fe(II) O2.-
? Fe(III) H2O2 Fe(II) CO3.- ? Fe(III)
HCO3-
CIM hydrous ferric oxide (HFO) Fe(III)
complexation and precipitation.
FeOH H2AsO4- ? FeHAsO4- H2O ( K 1024 )
FeOH HAsO42- ? FeAsO42- H2O ( K 1029 ).
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Mechanisms of Arsenic Removal    Corrosion of
FeO-composite continuously generates hydrated
iron oxides with high specific
surface area.   Mn (ca. 0.2) in the
FeO-composite acts as a catalyst for rapid
conversion As(III) to As(V)   Arsenate is
removed by surface complexation with HFO
(possibly magnetite and maghemite (?-Fe2O3)).
  Removal process is independent of the
concentration of As(III) As(V) input
concentration.   Excess Ca2, Fe(II)/Fe(III) and
other divalent cations enhance adsorption and
complex formation through double-layer
charging.  Further, cementation reactions
produce a porous high surface area insoluble
spent material very similar to natural HFO with a
high capacity for arsenic removal.
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Two Filters Alumina vs. CIM
Influent As(T) 400 -600 ug/L
Influent As(T) 600 -1240 ug/L
(Nawabgong Data Arsenic Removal Technology
Environmental Technology Verification Program for
Arsenic Mitigation, Bangladesh Council of
Scientific and Industrial Research, Dhaka,
Bangladesh. 2003-2004).
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Filter Problems and Solution
Problem Cause Solution
Decreased flow lt 10 L/hour Clogging of top layer sand by HFO both buckets Wash or replaces topmost sand layers
Increased bacterial contamination Poor hygiene or poor maintenance Pour 5 L hot water every 15 days.
Visibly turbid water Nonuse for a while (or free flow junction malfunction) Filter and discard first 3-4 buckets (or return the filter)
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Drinking water inorganic quality parameters
Comparison of 3-Kolshi and Sono bucket filter
with international and national standards.
Results include independent test results by WS
Atkins. 3-Kolshi was approved by the Bangladesh
Arsenic Mitigation Water Supply Project, BG for
household use.
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• USAGE INFORMATION (2001-July 2005)
• 20,000 SONOTM filters installed in 14 districts
• 60-180 liters per day consumed for 2- 4 years
• 250,000 direct beneficiaries
• gt1 Billion liter of clean water consumed
• Cost lt0.0043 Taka / Liter

Tube well-head filter
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SONO Dual Filters
80 L/ hour 2423 to 8 ppb As(T)
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SONO Triple Filters Flow 120 L/hour
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SONOTM Arsenic Filter at Work 4000 ppb to 7 ppb
As
4000 ppb As Jagassar, Bheramara, Bangladesh
7 ppb As after SONO Filtered SONO? by SDC/MSUK,
Kushtia, Bangladesh
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PEOPLE INVOLVED
Abul K. M. Munir and Zafreen A. Hossain MSUK
and SDCI, Kushtia, Bangladesh Abul
BarkatDepartment of Economics, University of
Dhaka, Dhaka, BangladeshAmir H. KhanDepartment
of Chemistry, University of Dhaka, Dhaka,
BangladeshMohammed Alauddin Chemistry
Department, Wagner College, NY, USA Mohammad
Habibuddowla Department of Environment,
Commonwealth of Kentucky, USA MSUK-SDCI Kushtia
Laboratory Dr. Tahmina Begum, Monwar Ahmed, Mir
Morshedur Rahman, Mizanur Rahman, Aslam Hossain,
Ziaul Haq, Abu Sayeed, and many others.
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Team Members
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Organizations Involved

• Sono Diagnostic Center EI, Kushtia
• MSUK Manob Sakti Unnayan Kendro, Kushtia
• HDRC Human Development Research Center, Dhaka,
  Bangladesh
• Chemistry Department, George Mason University,
  USA
• Quasem-Nahar Trust Fund, Kushtia

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Students carrying filtered water home
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Leaching experiment (EPA-TALP) with spent
materials after a year