Enhanced removal of organoarsenic by chlorination: Kinetics, effect of humic acid, and adsorbable chlorinated organoarsenic.

Abstract In this study, the effective removal of organoarsenic by the combined process of “chlorination + Fe(II)” was achieved. Chlorine could effectively degrade roxarsone (ROX) over pH from 5 to 10. The fitting results of acid-base protonation model proved that the degradation of ROX was mainly attributed to the reaction of HOCl and deprotonated ROX. The transformation of arsenic species conformed to the fitting results of two-channel kinetic model, in which 32.4% of ROX was oxidized to As(V) via electron transfer pathway (ii) and the rest was converted into monochloro-ROX via electrophilic substitution pathway (i). Humic acid inhibited the degradation of ROX due to the competitive consumption of chlorine and the restraint on the pathway ii. Subsequently, an enhanced removal of total arsenic achieved after chlorination, due to that the generating As(V) and monochloro-ROX were easier adsorbed compared with ROX, over 97.8% of total arsenic was removed by ferric (oxyhydr)oxides which in-situ formed from the oxidation of Fe(II). Additionally, toxicity studies indicated that the acute toxicity was significantly eliminated by adding Fe(II) after chlorination, likely due to the removal of As(V) and chlorinated products. Furthermore, organoarsenic was also effectively removed by the combined process of “chlorination + Fe(II)” in real water.