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ARS Home » Midwest Area » West Lafayette, Indiana » National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #306265
Title: Assessment of pollutants sequestration in flowing waters using Red Mud

Author
item CHAGAS, ISIS - Purdue University
item Smith, Douglas
item Huang, Chi Hua
item BOWLING, LAURA - Purdue University

Submitted to: ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/3/2014
Publication Date: 11/2/2014
Citation: Chagas, I., Smith, D.R., Huang, C., Bowling, L. 2014. Assessment of pollutants sequestration in flowing waters using Red Mud [abstract]. American Society of Agronomy Annual Meeting, November 2-5, 2014, Long Beach, CA. 2014 CDROM.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Red Mud, a waste product of bauxite refinement, has already been reported as a non-conventional adsorbent of heavy metals and some other important nutrients, such as phosphorus. Its use has been explored since it is a low cost solid adsorbent with a strong binding capacity. Although there were equilibrium studies done on the sorption potential of Red Mud for dissolved phosphorus, there were little data on whether the red mud can effectively sequester phosphorus under flowing condition, as it would be anticipated in a drainage ditch. A 30 cm wide and 10 m long flume was constructed for this research. Red Mud briquettes were contained in a burlap bag and placed in the flume to form a ponded area, similar to a proposed remediation scheme in a drainage ditch. River water was used in the flowthrough experiment. Water samples were collected every minute before and after the Red-Mud pool and analyzed for phosphorus. In this presentation, we will discuss how the Red Mud briquettes perform under different surface flow conditions and the potential usage to remediate contaminated water .