Laboratory removal of toxic metals from water using selected sorbents.

Currently there are many substances that pollute drinking water sources, including various metals, metalloids and their compounds. In small quantities, certain metals can be essential for human health, however in large quantities they can cause acute or chronic toxicity. Therefore, it is necessary to remove harmful metals from water. In order to compare selected sorption materials for the removal of harmful metals from water, a laboratory experiment was carried out on filter columns. Columns with an internal diameter of 4.4 cm were filled up to a height of 80 cm with the sorption materials selected for testing - they were GEH, Bayoxide E33 and Filtrasorb F400. At the bottom of the columns there was a drainage layer preventing leakage of soption materials during filtration. Toxic metals and metalloids - arsenic, nickel and lead, which were added to tap water for the purposes of the experiment, were removed from the water by filtration. A suction hose of a pump was inserted into the barrel with model water and the water was pumped from the barrel into the individual columns. The amount of water flowing was regulated on a flow meter, with a maximum flow defined at 20 l/h. During filtration, water samples were taken at 1, 2, 4 and 6 minutes from the start of the experiment. The temperature, pH and turbidity of these samples were determined directly in the laboratory, and then the samples were sent to the laboratory of the Health Institute based in Ostrava to determine the concentrations of individual metals. From the results of the analyses, it was possible to observe that all of the materials lowered concentrations of the metals below the limit value announced by the decree. However, the Filtrasorb F100 material achieved significantly lower efficiency than the other two materials. The materials GEH and Bayoxide E33 achieved a high efficiency of approximately 90%, based on several criteria, the material Bayoxide E33 was evaluated as a more suitable material for the removal of monitored metals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]