Application of natural zeolites for preconcentration of arsenic species in water samples

Zeolites of the clinoptilolite type produced in Mexico and Hungary were investigated with respect to their sorption efficiency for various redox species of arsenic. Long-term experiments showed that arsenate remains stable for a long period in spiked deionised water and drinking water, as well as in the surface water of the Biela valley in Saxony, Germany. Both clinoptilolites are able to decrease the initial arsenic concentration of 200 mug l(-1) by more than 75% in deionised, drinking, ground and sur face waters. In the case of the Mexican zeolite, both the arsenite and the arsenate concentrations (200 mug l(-1))can be lowered from 200 mug l(-1) to 10 mug l(-1) which is the World Health Organisation's (WHO's) recommended maximum level. It was found that the presence of cations and anions in the natural waters of Biela, Germany, and Zimapan, Mexico, did not reduce the efficiency of the selected zeolites. The Hungarian zeolite removed 75% of the arsenate in the Zimapan water and only 50% when the sample was first acidified. This zeolite totally desorbed the fixed arsenic into a water volume that was half the volume in the adsorption experiment.