Assessment of effectiveness of Hematite and Bismuth ferrite nanoparticles as adsorbents for arsenic removal

Abstract

Arsenic is recognized to be one of the world's greatest environmental hazards, threatening the lives of several hundred million people. Technologies based on nanoparticles (typically 1-100 nm in size) for heavy metal removal (e.g. arsenic) from water have received huge attention, as nanoparticles have good adsorption capacity due to their large surface area. Effectiveness in removing arsenic from water depends on the nanoparticles type. In this investigation two types of nanoparticles have been tested e.g. hematite and doped bismuth ferrite, to assess their effectiveness as adsorbents for arsenic removal. The adsorption characteristics were examined under different environmental conditions such as nanoparticles dose, initial arsenic concentration, concentration of buffer solution, pH, etc. It was observed that addition of biological buffer for pH stabilization reduced the concentration of initial arsenic before the addition of nanoparticles for treatment of arsenic spiked water.