arsenic contamination

laterite

groundwater

adsorption

Water treatment

Reuse of reclaimed waters

Reuse of wastewaters

Wastewater engineering

Heavy metals contamination of water

The current study investigated the efficiency of Lamdong laterite soil using a leaching fixed-bed column, as an effective natural adsorbent for the removal of arsenic from Vietnamese groundwater. The performance of laterite was compared to that of granular ferric hydroxide (GFH), a commercial adsorbent used in arsenic removal. The effect of the parameters on this process under various operating conditions was investigated, and the experimental data were modeled using the bed depth service time (BDST) approach. According to the speciation studies, the groundwater contained 49.94% of particulate arsenic and 50.06% of soluble arsenic. The As(III) and As(V) presented at 8.4% and 91.6%, respectively, in the dissolved arsenic. The analysis of the pH value and initial arsenic concentration showed that laterite removed more than 95% of the total arsenic from the groundwater and that the GFH material removed 99% of the arsenic at pH 3 and 0.47 mg As/L. Using a molar sodium hydroxide solution, laterite was more regenable than GFH under the same experimental conditions. This suggests that natural laterite can be used as an efficient and low-cost material to reduce arsenic contamination in groundwater used for drinking.