Disposal Problem of Arsenic Sludge Generated During Arsenic Removal from Drinking Water

Arsenic (As) causes acute and chronic toxicity, it harm the skin and associated with increase risk of cancer in the skin, bladder and kidney. It is very difficult to diagnose the early symptoms of arsenicosis so it depends largely on awareness with improving the quality of drinking water. There are several methods are available for removal of As from water. The most commonly used technologies are oxidation, co-precipitation, adsorption, absorption, coagulation, ion-exchange resin, lime treatment and membrane techniques. Now today the safe disposal of large quantity of As contaminated sludge generated from As removal water treatment plant which contain about 5-7 kg of arsenic per cubic meter due to risk of underground water contamination as arsenic has very high leaching potential. For safe disposal of solid hazardous waste of As requires treatment. A long term solution appears to solidification/stabilization (s/s) of As-sludge and using it for beneficial purposes like bricks and concretes etc. In the field of active research, this paper identifies the gap between the implementation of process as well as new technologies for safe disposal of arsenic sludge. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.