Remediation of Groundwater Contaminated by Heavy Metals Using Magnetic Separation Technique

Abstract

Heavy metals pollution has become one of the most serious environmental problems nowadays. Studies on the environmental pollution indicate that water pollution by heavy metals ions has reached unprecedented levels over the past decade in many countries, with highlights to African countries. Removal of these toxic metals from contaminated water can improve human being life quality and prevent from their adverse effects. This study aims to text the ability of magnetic activated carbon (MAC) and MAC coated with wastes of colloidal silica (MACSi) for adsorption of copper, manganese and zinc ions from water and its separation from water using magnetic separation technique. The adsorption results of MAC and MACSi showed that MACSi was more effective to adsorb the ions than MAC. FT-IR spectrum and XRD pattern of MACSi indicated that silica coating onto MAC surface is in amorphous form.