Synthesis, characterisation and application iron and manganeous based sorbents for arsenic removal from water

Abstract

<p>Prisusutvo&nbsp; arsena&nbsp; u&nbsp; podzemnim&nbsp; vodama,&nbsp; koje&nbsp; se&nbsp; primenjuju&nbsp; za vodosnabdevanje stanovni&scaron;tva je globalan problem. Različiti&nbsp; konvencionalni<br />procesi&nbsp; se primenjuju&nbsp; za&nbsp; uklanjanje&nbsp; arsena iz vode, uključujući koagulaciju i<br />flokulaciju,&nbsp; sorpciju,&nbsp; membransku&nbsp; filtraciju&nbsp; i&nbsp; jonsku&nbsp; izmenu.&nbsp; Uzimajući&nbsp; u<br />obzir relativnu nisku cenu, jednostavnu kontrolu procesa i održavanje, visok<br />stepen uklanjanja arsena, sorpcija se smatra jednom od najpodobnijih tehnika<br />za uklanjanje arsena u tretmanu vode za piće. Premda su na trži&scaron;tu dostupni<br />različiti&nbsp; sorbenti&nbsp; za&nbsp; uklanjanje&nbsp; arsena,&nbsp; postoji&nbsp; potreba&nbsp; za&nbsp; iznalaženjem&nbsp; i<br />razvojem&nbsp; novih&nbsp;<em> low-cost&nbsp;</em> sorbenata,&nbsp; a&nbsp; kojima&nbsp; bi&nbsp; se&nbsp; pak&nbsp; mogao&nbsp; obezbediti<br />visok stepen uklanjanja oba oksidaciona oblika&nbsp; arsena,&nbsp; i&nbsp; As(III) i As(V). Cilj<br />ovog rada bio je usmeren na sintezu i karakterizaciju novih sorbenata na bazi<br />gvožđa&nbsp; i&nbsp; mangana&nbsp; odnosno&nbsp; Fe-Mn&nbsp; binarnog&nbsp; oksida,&nbsp; ispitivanje&nbsp; njihovog<br />potencijala&nbsp; za&nbsp; uklanjanje&nbsp; arsena&nbsp; iz&nbsp; vode&nbsp; i&nbsp; utvrđivanje&nbsp; da&nbsp; li&nbsp; novosintetisani<br />sorbenti po pitanju efikasnosti, mogu konkurisati postojećim komercijalnim i<br />&scaron;iroko kori&scaron;ćenim sorbentima u tretmanima voda.<br />Metodom&nbsp; precipitacije,&nbsp; sintetisani&nbsp; su&nbsp; Fe-Mn&nbsp; binarni&nbsp; oksidi&nbsp; sa&nbsp; različitim Fe:Mn&nbsp; molskim&nbsp; odnosima&nbsp; 1:1,&nbsp; 3:1,&nbsp; 6:1&nbsp; i&nbsp; 9:1,&nbsp; dok&nbsp; su&nbsp; kombinacijom heterogene&nbsp; nukleacione&nbsp; tehnike&nbsp; i&nbsp; precipitacije,&nbsp; sintetisana&nbsp; i&nbsp; četiri&nbsp; sorbenta magnetnih&nbsp; svojstava&nbsp; (Mag,&nbsp; Mag-Fe,&nbsp; Mag-Mn,&nbsp; Mag-FeMn).&nbsp; Modifikacijom biopolimera&nbsp; Chitosana&nbsp; i&nbsp; GAC,&nbsp; sa&nbsp; Fe-Mn&nbsp; binarnim&nbsp; oksidom,&nbsp; razvijena&nbsp; su preostala&nbsp; dva&nbsp; materijala&nbsp; Chit-FeMn,&nbsp; odnosno&nbsp; GAC-FeMn.&nbsp; Sintetisani sorbenti su karakterisani različitim tehnikama i metodama (SEM/EDS, XRD,FTIR, BET).Fizičko-hemijskom karakterizacijom sintetisanih sorbenata ustanovljeno je da se Fe-Mn binarni oksidi i magnetni materijali, karakteri&scaron;u relativno velikim specifičnim&nbsp; povr&scaron;inama&nbsp; (109-300&nbsp; m²/g)&nbsp; i&nbsp; zapreminama&nbsp; mezopora (0,144-0,403&nbsp; cm ³ /g).&nbsp; Velika&nbsp; specifična&nbsp; povr&scaron;ina&nbsp; i&nbsp; razvijena&nbsp; mikroporozna struktura uočena je kod GAC-FeMn (996 m<br />² /g; 0,394 cm^{3 /}g). U poređenju sa ostalim&nbsp; sintetisanim&nbsp; sorbentima,&nbsp; Chit-FeMn&nbsp; je&nbsp; karakterisala&nbsp; najmanja specifična&nbsp; povr&scaron;ina&nbsp; i&nbsp; zapremina&nbsp; mezopora&nbsp; (1,99&nbsp; m<br />²/g;&nbsp; 0,014&nbsp; cm ³ /g).&nbsp; XRD analiza&nbsp; Fe-Mn&nbsp; binarnih&nbsp; oksida&nbsp; ukazala&nbsp; je&nbsp; da&nbsp; je&nbsp; fazna&nbsp; struktura&nbsp; sintetisanih Fe-Mn&nbsp; binarnih&nbsp; oksida&nbsp; slična&nbsp; ferihidratu&nbsp; dok&nbsp; je&nbsp; fazna&nbsp; struktura&nbsp; magnetnih materijala ukazala na prisustvo magemita.<br />Ispitivanja kinetike sorpcionog procesa ukazala su da je mehanizam sorpcije<br />As(III)&nbsp; i&nbsp; As(V)&nbsp; na&nbsp; sintetisanim&nbsp; sorbentima&nbsp; sloţena&nbsp; kombinacija&nbsp; povr&scaron;inske<br />hemisorpcije,&nbsp; koja&nbsp; se&nbsp; odvija&nbsp; kroz&nbsp; granični&nbsp; sloj&nbsp; čestica&nbsp; sorbenata&nbsp; i unutarčestične difuzije. Tome u prilog i&scaron;li su i rezultati FTIR analize kojima<br />je potvrđeno da se sorpcija arsena na sintetisanim sorbentima ostvaruje kroz<br />interakcije hidroksilnih grupa gvožđa prisutnih na povr&scaron;ini sorbenata i arsena.<br />Dodatno, pokazano je da se za razliku od sorpcije As(V), sorpcija As(III) na sorbentima&nbsp; koji&nbsp; pored&nbsp; oksida&nbsp; gvožđa&nbsp; sadrže&nbsp; i&nbsp; okside&nbsp; mangana&nbsp; (Fe-Mn binarni oksidi, Mag-FeMn, Mag-Mn,Chit-FeMn i GAC-FeMn) odvija u dva koraka. U prvom koraku As(III) se oksiduje do As(V), dok u drugom koraku, oksidovani&nbsp; As(V)&nbsp; mehanizmom&nbsp; ligandne&nbsp; izmene&nbsp; formira&nbsp; komplekse&nbsp; na povr&scaron;ini ovih sorbenata.<br />Afiniteti sorpcije Fe-Mn binarnih oksida (na osnovu K_d vrednosti)&nbsp; za As(III) opadali su u nizu Fe-Mn 3:1 &gt; Fe-Mn 1:1 &gt; Fe-Mn 6:1 &gt; Fe-Mn 9:1 odnosno kod&nbsp; As(V):&nbsp; Fe-Mn&nbsp; 6:1&nbsp; &gt;&nbsp; Fe-Mn&nbsp; 3:1&nbsp; &gt;&nbsp; Fe-Mn&nbsp; 9:1&nbsp; &gt;&nbsp; Fe-Mn&nbsp; 1:1.&nbsp; Kod magnetnih kompozita,&nbsp; najveća K_d vrednost za As(III) i As(V) ustanovljena je kod&nbsp; Mag-FeMn.&nbsp; Uop&scaron;teno,&nbsp; Kd<br />vrednosti&nbsp; za&nbsp; As(III),&nbsp; kod&nbsp; magnetnih kompozita,&nbsp; opadale&nbsp; su&nbsp; u&nbsp; nizu:&nbsp; Mag-FeMn&nbsp; &gt;&nbsp; Mag-Mn&nbsp; &gt;&nbsp; Mag&nbsp; &gt;&nbsp; Mag-Fe, Slično, afinitet sorbenata za As(V), opadao je na sledeći način: Mag-FeMn &gt; Mag&nbsp; &gt;&nbsp; Mag-Fe&nbsp; &gt;&nbsp; Mag-Mn.&nbsp; U&nbsp; poređenju&nbsp; sa&nbsp; neimpregniranim,&nbsp; K_d vrednosti bile su daleko veće kod obloţenih materijala, Chit-FeMn i GAC-FeMn, &scaron;to je ukazalo&nbsp; na&nbsp; značajan&nbsp; doprinos&nbsp; Fe-Mn&nbsp; binarnog&nbsp; oksida&nbsp; adsorpcionom kapacitetu neimpregniranih medija za As(III) i As(V). U&nbsp; odnosu&nbsp; na&nbsp; ostale&nbsp; ispitivane&nbsp; anjone,&nbsp; najveći&nbsp; uticaj&nbsp; na&nbsp; sorpciju&nbsp; oba&nbsp; oblika arsena&nbsp; na&nbsp; svim&nbsp; sintetisanim&nbsp; sorbentima&nbsp; uočen&nbsp; je&nbsp; kod&nbsp; fosfata,&nbsp; dok&nbsp; je&nbsp; uticaj nitrata i hlorida, u svim slučajevima bio bez značaja. Uticaj ispitivanih anjona na&nbsp; sorpciju&nbsp; As(III)&nbsp; i&nbsp; As(V)&nbsp; na&nbsp; Fe-Mn&nbsp; binarnim&nbsp; oksidima,&nbsp; magnetnim materijalima, Chit-FeMn kao i na sorpciju As(V) na GAC-FeMn, opadao je u nizu: fosfati &gt; silikati &gt; karbonati &gt; sulfati &gt; nitrati &gt; hloridi. Slično, uticaj ispitivanih&nbsp; anjona&nbsp; na&nbsp; sorpciju&nbsp; As(III)&nbsp; na&nbsp; GAC-FeMn&nbsp; je&nbsp; opadao&nbsp; na&nbsp; sledeći način: fosfati &gt; silikati &gt; sulfati &gt; karbonati &gt; nitrati &gt; hloridi.Primenom&nbsp; sme&scaron;e&nbsp; NaCl-NaOH-NaOCl&nbsp; odnosno&nbsp; primenom&nbsp; 0,1&nbsp; M&nbsp; i&nbsp; 0,5&nbsp; M&nbsp; rastvora NaOH, ustanovljeno je da se sintetisani sorbenti mogu jednostavno i&nbsp; efikasno&nbsp; regenerisati&nbsp; i&nbsp; vi&scaron;estruko&nbsp; primeniti,&nbsp; &scaron;to&nbsp; je&nbsp; od&nbsp; izuzetnog&nbsp; značaja&nbsp; sa ekolo&scaron;kog i ekonomskog aspekta.&nbsp; Najmanje smanjenje sorpcionog kapaciteta&nbsp; i za As(III) i za As(V), nakon pet ciklusa sorpcije -desorpcije, ustanovljeno je kod binarnog oksida sa Fe:Mn molskim odnosom 3:1 i Mag-FeMn.&nbsp; Na osnovu rezultata prikazanih u ovom radu, može se zaključiti da sintetisani sorbenti,&nbsp; Fe-Mn&nbsp; binarni&nbsp; oksidi&nbsp; i&nbsp; magnetni&nbsp; kompoziti,&nbsp; posebno&nbsp; Mag-FeMn, mogu&nbsp; biti&nbsp; efikasna&nbsp; i&nbsp; ekonomična&nbsp; alternativa&nbsp; skupim&nbsp; komercijalnim sorbentima&nbsp; i&nbsp; drugim&nbsp; sofisticiranim&nbsp; tehnologijama.&nbsp; Visok&nbsp; oksidacioni&nbsp; i sorpcioni kapacitet ovih&nbsp; materijala, koji obezbeđuje istovremeno uklanjanje&nbsp; oba oksidaciona oblika arsena daje veliku prednost ovim sorbentima i čini ih veoma&nbsp; atraktivnim&nbsp; i&nbsp; obećavajućim&nbsp; u&nbsp; tretmanu&nbsp; voda.&nbsp; Dodatni&nbsp; benefit<br />magnetnih&nbsp; sorbenata,&nbsp; pre&nbsp; svega&nbsp; Mag-FeMn,&nbsp; ogleda&nbsp; se&nbsp; u&nbsp; njegovoj jednostavnoj separaciji iz vodenog medijuma i recirkulaciji u sistemu. Glavne prednosti&nbsp; sintetisanih&nbsp; Chit-FeMn&nbsp; i&nbsp; GAC-FeMn,&nbsp; ogledaju&nbsp; se&nbsp; u&nbsp; mogućnosti&nbsp; njihove primene kao efikasne filtracione ispune.</p>

<p>The&nbsp; presence&nbsp; of&nbsp; inorganic&nbsp; arsenic&nbsp; in&nbsp; groundwater&nbsp; used&nbsp; for&nbsp; drinking&nbsp; water supply&nbsp; is&nbsp; a&nbsp; global&nbsp; problem.&nbsp; Different&nbsp; techniques&nbsp; such&nbsp; as&nbsp; oxidation, coagulation,&nbsp; adsorption,&nbsp; ion&nbsp; exchange,&nbsp; and&nbsp; membrane&nbsp; filtration&nbsp; have&nbsp; been developed&nbsp; and&nbsp; applied&nbsp; for&nbsp; arsenic&nbsp; removal&nbsp; from&nbsp; aqueous&nbsp; media.&nbsp; Among these&nbsp; technologies,&nbsp;&nbsp; adsorption&nbsp; is&nbsp; regarded&nbsp; as&nbsp; one&nbsp; of&nbsp; the&nbsp; most&nbsp; promising approaches to remove arsenic from water because of its high efficiency, low cost, simplicity of operation. Although many sorbents for arsenic removal are available on the market, there is still a need to identify and develop new&nbsp; lowcost&nbsp; sorbents which are highly effective in removing both oxidation states of arsenic, As(III) and As(V). This dissertation therefore presents the synthesis and&nbsp; characterization&nbsp; of&nbsp; ten&nbsp; new&nbsp; iron&nbsp; and&nbsp; manganese&nbsp; based&nbsp; sorbents specifically developed for effective As removal. The Fe- Mn binary oxides were prepared with Fe:Mn molar ratios of 1:1, 3:1,6:1 and 9:1, while four heterogeneous magnetic composites (Mag, Mag-Fe,Mag-Mn,&nbsp; Mag-FeMn)&nbsp; were&nbsp; synthesized&nbsp; by&nbsp; combining&nbsp; the&nbsp; heterogeneous nucleation&nbsp; technique&nbsp; with&nbsp; precipitation.&nbsp; The&nbsp; remaining&nbsp; two&nbsp; materials, Chit-FeMn&nbsp; and&nbsp; GAC-FeMn,&nbsp; were&nbsp; created&nbsp; by&nbsp; modifying&nbsp; the&nbsp; Chitosan&nbsp; and GAC&nbsp; biopolymers&nbsp; with&nbsp; Fe-Mn&nbsp; binary&nbsp;&nbsp; oxide&nbsp; (Chit-FeMn&nbsp; and&nbsp; GAC-FeMn).Multiple&nbsp; techniques&nbsp; were&nbsp; applied&nbsp; to&nbsp; determine&nbsp; the&nbsp; physical&nbsp; and&nbsp; chemical characteristics&nbsp; of&nbsp; the&nbsp; resulting&nbsp; sorbents&nbsp; (including&nbsp; SEM/EDS,&nbsp; XRD,&nbsp; FTIR and BET analyses). In order to establish which sorbents show&nbsp; the greatest promise for application during&nbsp; drinking&nbsp; water&nbsp; treatment,&nbsp; the&nbsp; sorption&nbsp; capacity&nbsp; of&nbsp; the&nbsp; sorbents,&nbsp; theAs(III)&nbsp; and&nbsp; As(V)&nbsp; sorption&nbsp; mechanisms,&nbsp; and&nbsp; the&nbsp; impact&nbsp; of&nbsp; various&nbsp; factors relevant to arsenic sorption, including the regeneration potential and the reuse potential of the sorbents, were all investigated in&nbsp; batch experiments. During the physical characterisation, the Fe-Mn binary oxides and magnetic materials&nbsp; were&nbsp; found&nbsp; to&nbsp; have&nbsp; relatively&nbsp; large&nbsp; specific&nbsp; surface&nbsp; areas (109-300 m 2 /g) and mesopore volumes (0.144-0.403 cm 3 /g).&nbsp; A large specific surface&nbsp; area&nbsp; and&nbsp; microporous&nbsp; structure&nbsp; was&nbsp; observed&nbsp; for&nbsp; GAC-FeMn&nbsp; (996 m 2 /g;&nbsp; 0.394&nbsp; cm 3 /g).&nbsp; In&nbsp; comparison&nbsp; with&nbsp; the&nbsp; other&nbsp; synthesized&nbsp; sorbents,&nbsp; Chit-FeMn has the smallest specific surface area and pore volume (1.99 m 2 /g; 0.014&nbsp; cm 3 /g).&nbsp; XRD&nbsp; analyses&nbsp; of&nbsp; the&nbsp; Fe-Mn&nbsp; binary&nbsp; oxides&nbsp; indicated&nbsp; that&nbsp; the phase&nbsp; structure&nbsp; of&nbsp; the&nbsp; synthesized&nbsp; Fe-Mn&nbsp; binary&nbsp; oxides&nbsp; was&nbsp; similar&nbsp; to ferrihydrate,&nbsp; while&nbsp; the&nbsp; phase&nbsp; structure&nbsp; of&nbsp; the&nbsp; magnetic&nbsp; materials&nbsp; showed&nbsp; a good agreement with the XRD diffractogram of maghemite. Investigations into As sorption process kinetics have shown that the sorption mechanism&nbsp; for&nbsp; both&nbsp; As(III)&nbsp; and&nbsp; As(V)&nbsp; on&nbsp; the&nbsp; synthesized&nbsp; sorbents&nbsp; is&nbsp; a combination&nbsp; of&nbsp; surface&nbsp; hemisorption,&nbsp; which&nbsp; takes&nbsp; place&nbsp; through&nbsp; the boundary&nbsp; layer&nbsp; of&nbsp; sorbent&nbsp; particles,&nbsp; and&nbsp; intracellular&nbsp; diffusion.&nbsp; The&nbsp; FTIR analyses&nbsp; confirmed&nbsp; that&nbsp; arsenic&nbsp; sorption&nbsp; was&nbsp; accomplished&nbsp; through&nbsp; the interactions&nbsp; of&nbsp; the&nbsp; hydroxyl&nbsp; groups&nbsp; of&nbsp; iron&nbsp; present&nbsp; on&nbsp; the&nbsp; surface&nbsp; of&nbsp; the sorbents and arsenic. In contrast to the sorption of As(V), it was also shown that&nbsp; As(III)&nbsp; sorption&nbsp; onto&nbsp; sorbents&nbsp; containing&nbsp; manganese&nbsp; oxides&nbsp; (Fe-Mn binary&nbsp; oxides,&nbsp; Mag-FeMn,&nbsp; Mag-Mn,&nbsp; Chit-FeMn&nbsp; and&nbsp; GAC&nbsp; -FeMn)&nbsp; takes place in two steps. In the first step As(III) is oxidized to As(V), while in the second&nbsp; step,&nbsp; the&nbsp; oxidized&nbsp; As(V)&nbsp; forms&nbsp; complexes&nbsp; on&nbsp; the&nbsp; surface&nbsp; of&nbsp; the sorbents via ligand exchange. The&nbsp; Fe-Mn&nbsp; binary&nbsp; oxide&nbsp; sorption&nbsp; capacities&nbsp; (expressed&nbsp; as&nbsp; Kd values)&nbsp; for As(III)&nbsp;&nbsp; followed the trend Fe-Mn 3:1 &gt; Fe-Mn 1:1 &gt; Fe-Mn 6:1 &gt; Fe-Mn 9:1, whereas the&nbsp; As(V) trend was Fe-Mn 6:1 &gt; Fe-Mn 3:1 &gt; Fe-Mn 9:1 &gt; Fe-Mn 1:1. In the magnetic&nbsp; composites, the largest&nbsp; Kd value for As(III) and As(V) was&nbsp; obtained&nbsp; for&nbsp; Mag-FeMn.&nbsp; Generally,&nbsp; the&nbsp; Kd values&nbsp; for&nbsp; As(III)&nbsp; in&nbsp; the magnetic composites decreased in the series: Mag-FeMn &gt; Mag-Mn &gt; Mag &gt; Mag-Fe.&nbsp; Similarly,&nbsp; the&nbsp; affinity&nbsp; of&nbsp; the&nbsp; sorbents&nbsp; for&nbsp; As(V)&nbsp; was&nbsp; as&nbsp; follows: Mag-FeMn&nbsp; &gt;&nbsp; Mag&nbsp; &gt;&nbsp; Mag-Fe&nbsp; &gt;&nbsp; Mag- Mn.&nbsp; In&nbsp; comparison&nbsp; to&nbsp; the&nbsp; nonimpregnated&nbsp; materials,&nbsp; the&nbsp; Kd values&nbsp; were&nbsp; much&nbsp; higher&nbsp; for&nbsp; the&nbsp;&nbsp; boated materials,&nbsp; Chit-FeMn&nbsp; and&nbsp; GAC-FeMn,&nbsp; demonstrating&nbsp; the&nbsp; significant advantage&nbsp; Fe-Mn&nbsp; binary&nbsp; oxides&nbsp; provide&nbsp; in&nbsp; increasing&nbsp; As(III)&nbsp; and&nbsp; As(V)&nbsp; adsorption capacities. One&nbsp; of&nbsp; the&nbsp; most&nbsp; problematic&nbsp; limiting&nbsp; factors&nbsp; in&nbsp; applying&nbsp; adsorption technologies during drinking water treatment is the presence of other water constituents which interfere with the adsorption process.&nbsp; Investigations into the inhibitory effect of competive anions on the adsorption of both forms of arsenic&nbsp; revealed&nbsp; that&nbsp; phosphates&nbsp; were&nbsp; the&nbsp; worst&nbsp; offenders&nbsp; in&nbsp; terms&nbsp; ofreducing&nbsp; the&nbsp; arsenic&nbsp; removal&nbsp; efficacy&nbsp; of&nbsp; sorbents&nbsp; investigated.&nbsp; From&nbsp; the largest&nbsp; to&nbsp; the&nbsp; smallest&nbsp; negative&nbsp; influence&nbsp; of&nbsp; the&nbsp; anions&nbsp; investigated,&nbsp; for As(III)&nbsp; and&nbsp; As(V)&nbsp; adsorption&nbsp; on&nbsp; Fe-Mn&nbsp; binary&nbsp; oxides,&nbsp; magnetic&nbsp; materials and Chit-FeMn, as well as As(V) adsorption on GAC-FeMn, the order was: phosphates &gt; silicates &gt; carbonates &gt; sulfates &gt; nitrates &gt; chlorides, with the presence&nbsp; of&nbsp; the&nbsp; latter&nbsp; two&nbsp; anions&nbsp; proving&nbsp; almost&nbsp; irrelevant&nbsp; to&nbsp; the&nbsp; As adsorption&nbsp; process.&nbsp; Similarly,&nbsp; the&nbsp; negative&nbsp; influence&nbsp; of&nbsp; anions&nbsp; on&nbsp; As(III) sorption on GAC-FeMn was: phosphates &gt; silicates &gt; sulphates &gt; carbonates &gt; nitrates &gt; chlorides. Another&nbsp; issue&nbsp; with&nbsp; applying&nbsp; adsorption&nbsp; in&nbsp; real&nbsp; treatment&nbsp; conditions&nbsp; is&nbsp; the need to regularly&nbsp; regenerate and/or replace the spent sorbent. In this work, a simple&nbsp; and&nbsp; efficient&nbsp; process&nbsp; for&nbsp; sorbent&nbsp;&nbsp; rfegeneration&nbsp; is&nbsp; demonstrated.&nbsp; This regeneration&nbsp; process&nbsp; can&nbsp; be&nbsp; applied&nbsp; to&nbsp; the&nbsp; sorbents&nbsp; investigated&nbsp; multiple times, and uses an NaCl-NaOH-NaOCl mixture, or 0.1 M and 0.5 M NaOH solutions.&nbsp; This&nbsp; finding&nbsp; is&nbsp; of&nbsp; great&nbsp; importance&nbsp; from&nbsp; an&nbsp; ecological&nbsp; and economic point of view. The minimum reduction in the sorption capacity for both As(III) and As(V), after five sorption-regeneration cycles, was found in&nbsp; the&nbsp; binary&nbsp; oxide&nbsp; with&nbsp; a&nbsp; 3:1&nbsp; Fe:Mn&nbsp; molar&nbsp; ratio&nbsp; and&nbsp; Mag-FeMn.&nbsp; Arsenic sorption&nbsp; behaviour&nbsp; was&nbsp; also&nbsp; investigated&nbsp; using&nbsp; real&nbsp; groundwater&nbsp; samples, with the results demonstrating the great potential of 3:1 Fe-Mn binary oxide and Mag- FeMn. However, Chit-FeMn and GAC-FeMn were less effective at adsorbing As from the groundwater samples.Based on the results presented in this dissertation, it can&nbsp; be concluded that the synthesized&nbsp; sorbents,&nbsp; especially&nbsp; the&nbsp; Fe-Mn&nbsp; binary&nbsp; oxides&nbsp; and&nbsp; magnetic composites,&nbsp; and&nbsp; Mag-FeMn&nbsp; in&nbsp; particular,&nbsp; can&nbsp; be&nbsp; efficient&nbsp; and&nbsp; economical alternatives&nbsp; to&nbsp; expensive&nbsp; commercial&nbsp; sorbents&nbsp; and&nbsp; other&nbsp; sophisticated&nbsp; As removal&nbsp; technologies.&nbsp; The&nbsp; high&nbsp; oxidation&nbsp; and&nbsp; sorption&nbsp; capacity &nbsp; of&nbsp; these materials,&nbsp; which&nbsp; ensure&nbsp; the&nbsp; simultaneous&nbsp; removal&nbsp; of&nbsp; arsenic&nbsp; with&nbsp; both oxidation states, is a large advantage for these sorbents and makes them very attractive&nbsp; and&nbsp; promising&nbsp; for&nbsp; application&nbsp; in&nbsp; drinking&nbsp; water&nbsp; treatment.&nbsp; An additional&nbsp; benefit of the magnetic sorbents, primarily Mag-FeMn, is the ease with&nbsp; which&nbsp; they&nbsp; may&nbsp; be&nbsp; separated&nbsp; from&nbsp; the&nbsp; aqueous&nbsp; medium,&nbsp; allowing&nbsp; for simple&nbsp; recirculation within a system. Similarly,&nbsp; the main advantages of&nbsp; the synthesized Chit- FeMn and GAC-FeMn are reflected in their application as effective filtration media.</p>