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Comparative study on the effectiveness of natural coagulant aids and commercial coagulant: removal of arsenic from water

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Abstract

A novel cellulose and chitosan-based natural biopolymer or coagulant aids with a commercial coagulant (ferric chloride FeCl3) have been used for the removal of arsenite As(III) from synthetic tap water at 2 mg/L of initial arsenic concentration by coagulation–flocculation method. The maximum As(III) removal efficiency of 69.25% was obtained without coagulant aids at 40 mg/L concentration of FeCl3. The addition of cellulose and chitosan with FeCl3 enhanced the removal efficiency of As(III). The percentage of As(III) removal reached 84.62 and 74.87% at the concentration of 1 and 1.5 mg/L for cellulose and chitosan, respectively, with 25 mg/L of fixed FeCl3 concentration. Comparable As(III) removal efficiencies were obtained using cellulose, chitosan, and FeCl3. Moreover, As(III) removal efficiency of cellulose was significantly found greater (p < 0.01) than chitosan and comparable to that of FeCl3 (p < 0.01). In addition, the maximum percentage of As(III) removal was found at the pH range of 6–8.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Patna, India, for the financial support. We would also like to thank the Professor and Head, Department of Civil Engineering, NIT Patna, India, for providing laboratory facilities for this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, 721302, India

    I. Kumar

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology Patna, Patna, 800005, India

    A. R. Quaff

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  1. I. Kumar
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  2. A. R. Quaff
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Correspondence to I. Kumar.

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Editorial responsibility: M. Abbaspour.

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Kumar, I., Quaff, A.R. Comparative study on the effectiveness of natural coagulant aids and commercial coagulant: removal of arsenic from water. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 16, 5989–5994 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-018-1980-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-018-1980-8

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