Rapid and economical indicator for evaluating arsenic removal with minimum aluminum residual during coagulation process

Detection of various types of contaminants in water treatment plant by sophisticated analytical methods such as inductively coupled plasma/mass spectrometry and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry requires hours to days to provide the results. Because naturally occurring ultraviolet (UV) active compounds are commonly present in almost all source waters and can be rapidly monitored by UV absorbance at 260 nm (E260), the extent of correlation between the removal efficiency of E260 and the removal efficiency of As(V) with minimum soluble residual Al by coagulation process was investigated. Percentage removals for E260 were well correlated to those of As(V). When sufficient alum or polyaluminum chloride (PACl) was added for 60–65% removal of E260, 90–95% removal of As(V) was achieved with minimum soluble residual Al regardless of the initial level of turbidity, E260, and As(V). As E260 analysis is precisely available even by an unskilled plant operator in a few minutes, E260 removal efficiency appears to be the promising economical indicator for monitoring the effectiveness of the coagulation process for the removal of contaminants with minimum residual Al.