Evaluating Carbon/Hydroxyapatite’s Efficacy in Removing Heavy Metals from Groundwater

Abstract

Heavy metal pollution in groundwater and the environment poses a serious threat to ecosystems and human health. In particular, heavy metal ions, such as copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and manganese (Mn), in the leachate of metal mine tailings ponds have attracted much attention due to their high toxicity and bioaccumulation. In order to solve the problem of heavy metal pollution in groundwater caused by leachate from tailings pond of a polymetallic mine, carbon/hydroxyapatite (CHAP) prepared from animal bones was used as the medium material to systematically study its removal effect on heavy metal ions in water under static and dynamic conditions. The static experiment results showed that CHAP had excellent adsorption properties for copper, zinc, manganese and mixed ions, and the adsorption capacities were up to 80 mg/g, 67.86 mg/g and 49.29 mg/g, respectively. Dynamic experiments further confirmed the application potential of CHAP as a Permeable Reactive Barrier (PRB) medium material, which can effectively remove heavy metal ions from flowing water, having a long service life. This study provides a theoretical basis and experimental reference for the in situ remediation of heavy metal-contaminated groundwater and shows the application prospect of CHAP in the field of environmental remediation.