Heavy metal ions adsorption by suspended particle and sediment of the Chalus River, Iran

Abstract

Nowadays, it is important to evaluate the self-purifying capacity of rivers because of the different kinds of pollutants discharged into them. Important kind of pollutants and heavy metals exist in wastewaters industries. When the Sorb Dona mine is placed in Upper Chalus River, in the west of Mazandaran, products of mine wastewater are discharged into the river, making this important and protective river to encounter serious environmental risk. This research evaluates procedures of eliminating heavy metals existing in mine wastewater of the Sorb Dona when Chalus River flow is muddy. For forming muddy flow in laboratory, according to previous results, there are uptake of samples of sediments and river water from three hydrometer stations namely Vali Abad, Pole Zoghal and Masab. After preparing samples in the laboratory, standard metals including Pb, Cu, Zn and Fe (15, 5, 5, and 5 mg/l, respectively) and sediments from the three stations, both arranged in the concentrations of 1000, 3000, 7000, and 11000 mg/l, increased the samples of river water; and then they are mixed in JAR TEST apparatus twice for one and the half hour until adsorbing amount of heavy metals in sediments is evaluated. The results obtained from the elimination of heavy metals (Pb, Cu, Zn, and Fe) from sediments show that the amounts of these eliminated metals in the concentration of 11000 mg/l arrangement are equal to 84.38, 85.36, 32.4, and 93.74%. Also, results of contact times showed that contact time of efficiency is rarely one hour ahead.

Key words: Chalus River, adsorption, heavy metal, suspended particle, sediment.