Publications

This report documents a field trial program carried out at Well No.15 located at Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico, to evaluate the performance of two relatively new arsenic removal media, ALCAN-AASF50 (ferric coated activated alumina) and granular ferric hydroxide (US Filter-GFH). The field trial program showed that both media were able to remove arsenate and meet the new total arsenic maximum contaminant level (MCL) in drinking water of 10 {micro}g/L. The arsenate removal capacity was defined at a breakthrough effluent concentration of 5 {micro}g/L arsenic (50% of the arsenic MCL of 10 {micro}g/L). At an influent pH of 8.1 {+-} 0.4, the arsenate removal capacity of AASF50 was 33.5 mg As(V)/L of dry media (29.9 {micro}g As(V)/g of media on a dry basis). At an influent pH of 7.2 {+-} 0.3, the arsenate removal capacity of GFH was 155 mg As(V)/L of wet media (286 {micro}g As(V)/g of media on a dry basis). Silicate, fluoride, and bicarbonate ions are removed by ALCAN AASF50. Chloride, nitrate, and sulfate ions were not removed by AASF50. The GFH media also removed silicate and bicarbonate ions; however, it did not remove fluoride, chloride, nitrate, and sulfate ions. Differences in the media performance partly reflect the variations in the feed-water pH between the 2 tests. Both the exhausted AASF50 and GFH media passed the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) test with respect to arsenic and therefore could be disposed as nonhazardous waste.

Apatite, Ca{sub 5}(PO{sub 4}){sub 3}(F,OH,Cl)(P6{sub 3}/m, Z=2), is the most abundant phosphate mineral on Earth. The end-member hydroxyapatite, Ca{sub 5}(PO{sub 4}){sub 3}OH(P2{sub 1}/b), is the primary mineral component in bones and teeth and tends to scavenge and sequester heavy metals in the human body. Hydroxyapatite has also been shown to be effective at sequestering radionuclides and heavy metals in certain natural systems (Dybowska et al., 2004). Hydroxyapatite has been the focus of many laboratory studies and is utilized for environmental remediation of contaminated sites (Moore et al., 2002). The crystal structure of apatite tolerates a great deal of distortion caused by extensive chemical substitutions. Metal cations (e.g. REE, actinides, K, Na, Mn, Ni, Cu, Co, Zn, Sr, Ba, Pb, Cd, Fe) substitute for Ca, and oxyanions (e.g. AsO{sub 4}{sup 3-}, SO{sub 4}{sup 2-}, CO{sub 3}{sup 2-}, SiO{sub 4}{sup 4-}, CrO{sub 4}{sup 2-}) replace PO{sub 4}{sup 3-} through a series of coupled substitutions that preserve electroneutrality. Owing to the ability of apatite to incorporate 'impurities'(including actinides) gives rise to its proposed use as a waste form for radionuclides. Recent work at Sandia National Laboratory demonstrated that hydroxyapatite has a strong affinity for U, Pu, Np, Sr and Tc reduced from pertechnetate (TcO{sub 4}{sup -}) by SnCl{sub 2} (Moore et al., 2002). Based on these earlier promising results, an investigation was initiated into the use of apatite-type materials doped with aliovalent cations including Fe, Cu and Sn as Tc-scavengers. Synthetic Fe and Cu-doped hydroxyapatite samples were prepared by precipitation of Ca, from Ca-acetate, and P, from ammonium phosphate. The Fe and Cu were introduced as chlorides into the Ca-acetate solution. Stannous chloride was used as a reducing agent and was apparently incorporated into the crystal structures of the hydroxyapatite samples in small, as yet undetermined quantities.

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