(248ae) Evaluation of Natural Feooh on the Removal of Arsenic and Selenium from Produced Waters

The objective of this research is to characterize commercially available adsorbent, FeOOH, and investigate the adsorption of selenium and arsenic onto FeOOH in simulated and real produced water.  This investigation is carried out with a focus on the removal of selenium and arsenic in produced water from the energy production industry.  As a micronutrient selenium is important to human and animal health, nonetheless at elevated concentrations, it becomes toxic and can cause health problems.  Arsenic is also well known for being toxic to humans and animals as well, and at low concentrations in drinking water causes severe health problems.  Water supply around the world is becoming insufficient due to the increase in  populations and the sources for additional water supplies must be established.  Treated produced water can potentially be used to partly mitigate the tight water supply dilemmas in places with a large energy production industry, such as Wyoming.  Through the characterization of FeOOH on the removal of selenium and arsenic in produced waters a simple, cost effective, and point of use application can be created to clean waters from the energy industry.