Sandia National Laboratories - Water Initiative

Zirconium Doped Minerals for Arsenic Removal from Drinking Water
Initiated: October 2001
Team: Robert C. Moore, Hongting Zhao, Kathleen C. Holt, Fred Salas
Sandia has developed a research project for the removal of the III and V oxidation states of arsenic from drinking water. Zirconium compounds have a high positive charge. They strongly adsorb negatively charged species in water. We have developed a sorbent made of zirconium compounds bound to the surface of an inert support material. In laboratory studies, the zirconium-based sorbents have proven to have a high affinity for sorption of arsenic species. Studies performed in the batch configuration indicate arsenic III and arsenic V species can be reduced from 185 ppb to less than 10 ppb in a challenged water formulation developed by the National Science Foundation for testing methods for removing arsenic from water. Column studies are now under way with the new zirconium-based sorbents. A major advantage of the new sorbents is cost. Although the materials have a high affinity and capacity for arsenic sorption, they only cost a few cents per pound.	Packed column containing Zr-based arsenic sorbents for water treatment.
Patent application has been filed on this technology.