Evaluation of Aluminum Powder Efficiency in Removal of Nitrate from Aqueous Solutions

groundwater is considered as one of the most important sources for drinking water supply. Groundwater pollution is an important problem in many parts of the world and nitrate being the most common chemical contaminants in groundwater. High levels of nitrate in groundwater lead the ground water sources to be unusable. The objective of this study was to investigate the nitrate removal from groundwater using aluminum powder.

In this research, the possibility of nitrate removal from groundwater was studied using aluminum powder with 200-100 mesh size. Study was done in 250 ml bottles at temperature range of 20-25ċ. Nitrate concentrations determined using a spectrophotometer at 220 and 275 nm. All experiments were triplicate and the average of results was reported.

The results of this study indicated that nitrate removal efficiency increases with increasing pH and adsorbent dose in a batch system. Maximum nitrate removal efficiency of 52% was achieved at 50 min contact time, pH of 10, and initial nitrate concentration of 100 mg/l as N. Nitrate removal efficiency increased by 20% when the concentration of aluminum powder increased from 0.5 to 1 g/L.

This method is recommended for removal of nitrate contamination from groundwater to be used for drinking and industrial purposes due to relatively low cost, ease of technique, safety and effectiveness of the method applied.