Effectiveness of commercial reagents for heavy metal removal from water with new insights for future chelate designs

Matthew M. Matlock, Kevin R. Henke, David A. Atwood

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

144 Scopus citations

Abstract

Toxic heavy metals in air, soil, and water are global problems that are a growing threat to the environment. To meet the federal and state guidelines for heavy metal discharge, companies often use chemical precipitation or chelating agents. In order to be competitive economically, many of these chelating ligands are simple, easy to obtain, and, generally offer weak bonding for heavy metals. Laboratory testing of three commercial reagents, trimercaptotriazine (TMT), Thio-Red® potassium/sodium thiocarbonate (STC), and HMP-2000 sodium dimethyldithiocarbamate (SDTC) has shown that the compounds were unable to reduce independent solutions containing 50.00ppm of divalent cadmium, copper, iron, lead, or mercury to meet EPA standards. Additionally, the compounds displayed high leaching rates and in some cases decomposed to produce toxic substances. In contrast, the studies demonstrate that a recently reported sulfur-containing multidentate ligand is both safe and effective for the removal of these metals.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)129-142
Number of pages14
JournalJournal of Hazardous Materials
Volume92
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - May 27 2002

Keywords

  • Chemical precipitation
  • Heavy metals
  • Remediation
  • Water treatment

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Environmental Engineering
  • Environmental Chemistry
  • Waste Management and Disposal
  • Pollution
  • Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Effectiveness of commercial reagents for heavy metal removal from water with new insights for future chelate designs'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this