Keeping your kidney and brain clean by tiny little soldiers: A study utilizing fine gas bubbles in capturing AL3 + in aqueous medium

Abstract

The abundant presence of aluminum in the earth’s crust results in a high aluminum content in the groundwater. This would need to be treated by water treatment systems in order to become clean and safe enough for household use. However, the addition of coagulants, such as potassium alum and other aluminum salts, may increase the level of aluminum in the treated water. The utilization of precipitate flotation together with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as collector was studied to observe the possibility of aluminum removal in alum-treated water. The results indicated a decline in the remaining concentration of aluminum during 5 minutes, with 98% of aluminum removed from the contaminated water when using 0.6 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate. This process is rather efficient. Key words: Precipitate flotation; Aluminum ion removal; Potable water treatment; Back titration