Monitoring arsenic in the environment: a review of science and technologies with the potential for field measurements

Removal of arsenic from contaminated soils by microbial reduction of arsenate and quinone

We investigated bioremediation of As-contaminated soils by reductive dissolution of As using a dissimilatory As(V)-reducing bacterium (DARB), Bacillus selenatarsenatis SF-1. We also examined the effect of anthraquinone-2,6-disulfonate (AQDS), an extracellular electron-shuttling quinone, on the As extraction. When B. selenatarsenatis was incubated with As(V)-laden Al precipitates, no acceleration of As dissolution was observed in the presence of AQDS, even though the microbial reduction of AQDS occurred actively. In contrast, AQDS addition significantly enhanced the reductive dissolution of As and Fe in analogous experiments with As(V)-laden Fe(III) precipitates, whereas As dissolution did not occur in the absence of the As(V) reducer. These results indicate the dissolution of As was accelerated by indirect reduction of solid-phase Fe(III) following microbial AQDS reduction, although As(V) reduction is vital for As extraction. B. selenatarsenatis was able to extract As from two types of industrially contaminated soils through reduction of solid-phase As(V) and Fe(III). The copresence of AQDS with B. selenatarsenatis improved the removal efficiency of As from the contaminated soils, concomitantly releasing Fe(II), suggesting that simultaneous use of DARB and electron-shuttling compounds can be an effective strategy for remediation of As-contaminated soils.

Onsite testing for arsenic: field test kits

The performance of existing field test kits for arsenic has generally been unsatisfactory. Reports of false-negative and false-positive results exceeding 30% are not unusual, although more recent techniques appear to be more reliable. However, studies using these recent techniques had only to meet the local water standard of 50 microg/L. If the new WHO guideline (10 microg/L) is adopted as a decision-making criterion, the sensitivity of most arsenic testing kits is not sufficient, particularly in the hands of nontrained operators. New developments with sophisticated electrochemical sensors may deliver the needed sensitivity but suffer from matrix effects, even with trained operators. A failing of all available commercial methods is that they do not determine organoarsenicals, despite the fact that, in some cases, organic species may be the predominant ones present.

Study of the determination of inorganic arsenic species by CE with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection

The determination of arsenic(III) and arsenic(V), as inorganic arsenite and arsenate, was investigated by CE with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (CE-C(4)D). It was found necessary to determine the two inorganic arsenic species separately employing two different electrolyte systems. Electrolyte solutions consisting of 50 mM CAPS/2 mM L-arginine (Arg) (pH 9.0) and of 45 mM acetic acid (pH 3.2) were used for arsenic(III) and arsenic(V) determinations, respectively. Detection limits of 0.29 and 0.15 microM were achieved for As(III) and As(V), respectively by using large-volume injection to maximize the sensitivity. The analysis of contaminated well water samples from Vietnam is demonstrated.

Arsenic removal from water/wastewater using adsorbents--A critical review

Arsenic's history in science, medicine and technology has been overshadowed by its notoriety as a poison in homicides. Arsenic is viewed as being synonymous with toxicity. Dangerous arsenic concentrations in natural waters is now a worldwide problem and often referred to as a 20th-21st century calamity. High arsenic concentrations have been reported recently from the USA, China, Chile, Bangladesh, Taiwan, Mexico, Argentina, Poland, Canada, Hungary, Japan and India. Among 21 countries in different parts of the world affected by groundwater arsenic contamination, the largest population at risk is in Bangladesh followed by West Bengal in India. Existing overviews of arsenic removal include technologies that have traditionally been used (oxidation, precipitation/coagulation/membrane separation) with far less attention paid to adsorption. No previous review is available where readers can get an overview of the sorption capacities of both available and developed sorbents used for arsenic remediation together with the traditional remediation methods. We have incorporated most of the valuable available literature on arsenic remediation by adsorption ( approximately 600 references). Existing purification methods for drinking water; wastewater; industrial effluents, and technological solutions for arsenic have been listed. Arsenic sorption by commercially available carbons and other low-cost adsorbents are surveyed and critically reviewed and their sorption efficiencies are compared. Arsenic adsorption behavior in presence of other impurities has been discussed. Some commercially available adsorbents are also surveyed. An extensive table summarizes the sorption capacities of various adsorbents. Some low-cost adsorbents are superior including treated slags, carbons developed from agricultural waste (char carbons and coconut husk carbons), biosorbents (immobilized biomass, orange juice residue), goethite and some commercial adsorbents, which include resins, gels, silica, treated silica tested for arsenic removal come out to be superior. Immobilized biomass adsorbents offered outstanding performances. Desorption of arsenic followed by regeneration of sorbents has been discussed. Strong acids and bases seem to be the best desorbing agents to produce arsenic concentrates. Arsenic concentrate treatment and disposal obtained is briefly addressed. This issue is very important but much less discussed.

Inorganic arsenic speciation in water and seawater by anodic stripping voltammetry with a gold microelectrode

The determination of arsenic in sea and freshwater by anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) was revisited because of problems related to unstable peaks and inconveniently strong acidic conditions used by existing methods. Contrary to previous work it was found, that As(III) can be determined by ASV using a gold microwire electrode at any pH including the neutral pH typical for natural waters. As(V) on the other hand, requires acidification to pH 1, but this is still a much milder condition than used previously. This is the basis of a new method for the chemical speciation of arsenic in natural waters. The limits of detection are 0.2 nM As(III) at pH 8 and 0.3 nM combined arsenic (III+V) at pH 1 with a 30 s deposition time. These limits are lowered by extending the deposition time. The detection step at pH 8 was stripping chronopotentiometry (SC) as this was found to give a lower detection limit than ASV. Copper is co-determined simultaneously with arsenic. The method was applied successfully to the determination of arsenic as well as copper in samples from the Irish Sea, mineral water and tap water.

Analysis of arsenic and calcium in soil samples by laser ablation mass spectrometry

We present an analytical procedure based on laser ablation mass spectrometry (LAMS) in order to detect and quantify arsenic and calcium in soil samples and we analyze the diverse factors that influence the precision of LAMS, such as laser fluence and matrix effect. The results indicate that a Zn matrix is a good choice for the analysis of those metals in soil samples. This work also provides a method for the direct determination of As in soil samples whose concentrations are lower than 100 ppm with a 70 ppm minimum detection limits (MDL).

Arsenic removal from geothermal waters with zero-valent iron--effect of temperature, phosphate and nitrate

Field column studies and laboratory batch experiments were conducted in order to assess the performance of zero-valent iron in removing arsenic from geothermal waters in agricultural regions where phosphates and nitrates were present. A field pilot study demonstrated that iron filings could remove arsenic, phosphate and nitrate from water. In addition, batch studies were performed to evaluate the effect of temperature, phosphate and nitrate on As(III) and As(V) removal rates. All batch experiments were conducted at three temperatures (20, 30 and 40 degrees C). Pseudo-first-order reaction rate constants were calculated for As(III), As(V), phosphate, nitrate and ammonia for all temperatures. As(V) exhibited greater removal rates than As(III). The presence of phosphate and nitrate decreased the rates of arsenic removal. The temperature of the water played a dominant role on the kinetics of arsenic, phosphate and nitrate removal. Nitrate reduction resulted in the formation of nitrite and ammonia. In addition, the activation energy, Eact, and the constant temperature coefficient, theta were determined for each removal process.

Speciation-Capable Field Instrument for the Measurement of Arsenite and Arsenate in Water

Hydride generation to form arsine and in-line preconcentration of the arsine into an alkaline KMnO4 receiver followed by molybdenum blue (MB) colorimetric determination of the arsenate formed is proposed for the highly sensitive and separate measurement of total inorganic As and As(III). Reduction of As to AsH3 is carried out by NaBH4; when the reduction is carried out at pH 1, all the inorganic As is reduced to AsH3, and when carried out at pH 7, only As(III) is reduced. Reductions at the two different pH levels are carried out in two different arsine generators simultaneously using constant addition of NaBH4 with solenoid pumps. The AsH3 is collected by individual porous membrane diffusion scrubbers filled with a stationary solution of KMnO4, and the contents of the two scrubbers sequentially enter a flow analysis stream. MB is formed by merging with a ammonium molybdate-ascorbic acid reagent, passing through a heated reactor, and is then measured by a LED/photodiode-based absorbance detector. Robustness was confirmed for total As using three types of certified natural water samples. Speciation analysis data from well water samples analyzed by this method agree well with HPLC-ICPMS measurements in a different laboratory. The system has been successfully applied to field measurements of As(III) and As(V), where levels were significantly below 1 mug/L. For a 20-mL sample, the limits of detection (LODs) for this inexpensive instrument are 0.3 microg/L for both As(III) and total As. When an 80-mL sample is analyzed, LODs are 0.07 microg/L As(III) and 0.09 microg/L total As. The general approach should be applicable to many other analyte species of interest that can be isolated from the matrix by the formation of a suitable volatile compound that can be recaptured.