Eunice Vera-Aguilar¹, Eduardo López-Sandoval², Juan José Godina-Nava³, Mariano Enrique Cebrián-García¹, Octavio López-Riquelme³, Miguel Angel Rodríguez-Segura³, Blanca Estela Zendejas-Leal³, Carlos Vázquez-López^3*

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¹ Departamento de Farmacología, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN, México D.F., México.
² Departamento de Ciências Exatas e Tecnológicas, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, Brazil.
³ Departamento de Física, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN, México D.F., México.
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Abstract: In Zimapan Valley, Mexico, up to 1.1 mg·L-1 of arsenic concentrations have been detected in deep wells that are used as drinking water supply for almost 39,000 people, which could have been exposed to levels higher than 10 μg·L-1 of arsenic, the maximum level recommended by the World Health Organization. Chronic consumption of water contaminated with arsenic can cause several diseases, including cancer. For it, the implementation of practical and economical methods to remove arsenic from drinking water is crucial to protect the population health. In this work, an electrochemical method to remove arsenic from drinking water is described. The process, monitored by Tyndall effect, utilizes Cu2+ and Zn2+ ions from a brass electrode in an electrochemical cell with water as electrolyte. Results show that the EC process reduces the concentration of the arsenic diluted in Zimapan water to a level below the limit of detection of the atomic absorption spectrophotometer employed. Arsenic was removed through the formation of Cu and Zn arsenic compounds. Cu2+ and Zn2+ ions form a hydroxide and eventually polycrystalline precipitation of kottigite and cornubite complexes (identified by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction), which are then filtered to eliminate the precipitated arsenic compounds.

Keywords: Arsenic Removal, Turbidity, Tyndall Effect, Groundwater Arsenic-Contamination, Electro-Flocculation, Brass Electrodes

Cite this paper: Vera-Aguilar, E. , López-Sandoval, E. , Godina-Nava, J. , Cebrián-García, M. , López-Riquelme, O. , Rodríguez-Segura, M. , Zendejas-Leal, B. and Vázquez-López, C. (2015) Arsenic Removal from Zimapan Contaminated Water Monitored by the Tyndall Effect. Journal of Environmental Protection, 6, 538-551. doi: 10.4236/jep.2015.65049.

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