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| Arsenic contamination in potable water in Asia has been called the largest mass poisoning in human history. In Bangladesh alone, 70 million people are regularly exposed to toxic levels of arsenic in their drinking water. Paragon Scientific and Frontier Geosciences have developed a revolutionary arsenic removal medium that efficiently captures multiple species of arsenic with performance benefits not available from current technologies. Parabond 23 removes arsenate, the more toxic arsenite, and organoarsenics from aqueous solutions and binds them strongly enough to pass TCLP requirements, allowing for non-hazardous waste disposal. Parabond 23 is capable of treating over 4000 bed volumes of ~200 ppb of arsenic to levels below the new EPA drinking water limit (10 ppb). Arsenic removal by Parabond 23 is effective across a wide pH range, from pH 4-9. In addition to its removal efficiency and binding strength, the economics and cultural aspects of implementation are very important to the feasibility of use. Parabond 23 is a much more affordable alternative to current arsenic removal mediums, with the possibility of local production as well as profits from secondary use of spent material strengthening its affordability. Paragon Scientific is also addressing cultural acceptance issues and is in regular discussion with local contacts in Bangladesh to design a filter apparatus that maximizes ease of use to improve product use rates in the short- and long-term over those shown for current filter technologies. |
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Occurrence, Chemistry, Toxicity and Remediation of Arsenic
8:00 AM-11:20 AM, Monday, 27 March 2006 Georgia World Congress Center -- B218, Oral
Division of Environmental Chemistry |