Groundwater from water well in South South Nigeria has high iron content.and obnoxious odour. We have made effort to remove the iron constituent to permissible limit. However, the odour is still a challenge. What adsorbent can can remove odour from potable water?
The fact that you have high iron and odor indicates that the aquifer is probably a chemical reducing environment. A couple of random thoughts. The odor is probably associated with sulfur. If there is organic material in the aquifer for some reason, the reducing environment may cause the formation of organic chemicals with a sulfur on them. These cause odor. Hydrogen sulfide also causes odor. Hydrogen sulfide will, over tie, cause problems with your birm. It is a Manganese Oxide coated media and continuous exposure to hydrogen sulfide may damage it. If the problem is H2S you should consider some chlorine ahead of the firm. This will oxidize both the H2S and the Fe(2). This will take care of both your odor and your potential firm damage issues. However, if the problem is mercaptans, you may still have odor and then you will have to consider either GAC or a stronger oxidant.
This is response based on little information and lots of assumptions. Good luck with your solution.
Thank you Adrian. There is no trace of sulfur in the aquifer. We suspect organic material that may be responsible for the odor. We have used chlorine ahead of the adsorption bed, but as the concentration of chlorine reduces to zero, the odor appears. Do we continue to use chlorine?
You can try GAC of good quality with high surface area. This might help.
Dear Awajiogak
Hello
odour is a phisycal factor in water quality, please find the nature of odour and then removed with favour material.
All The Best
I suggest to first check the content of the water and if possible find out the contamination which is causing the odor. Activated carbon is a good idea as suggested by Anirban, I also suggest UV after the adsorption bed if it is economically feasible for you. probably chlorination and/or ozone treatment could help to reduce the odor as well.
You might consider experimenting with bentonite, as it is an excellent absorpent.
Odor in water comes from some gases. In addition of oxidation you can obtain degazation (stripping)
Indeed, we have used both oxidation/aeration and frequent purging to mitigate odors associated with organic matter/biofilm build-up in old cast iron waterlines. What is the depth of the well?
Thank you Terri Brown. The depth of the well is 140 feet (42.7 meters). We shall apply frequent purging by decompressing the well and observe.
- Badges
- Science method
- Similar topics
- Biological Science
- Ecology