Arsenic Removal Using Bottom Ash
"The Challenge”
In Bangladesh, naturally-occurring arsenic has poisoned shallow tubewells used for drinking water exposing 40-70 million Bangladeshis to dangerously high levels of the toxin. Unfortunately, most of the people affected by arsenic are also among the world’s poorest. Bangladesh is currently experiencing the largest case of mass poisoning in human history.
Left: Red paint indicated that this tubewell in Jessore District Bangladesh is contaminated with high levels of arsenic, March 2007. Credit: Susan Amrose; Right: Children of Neel Kanda village (Sonargaon District, Bangladesh) helping carry water samples for BAAG student researchers, July 2007. Credit: Tasnuva Khan; Below: Village children watch as graduate student Susan Amrose performs experiments with ARUBA in Jessore District, Bangladesh, March 2007. Credit: Johanna Mathieu
"The Opportunity”
Scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a simple material (“ARUBA”—Arsenic Removal Using Bottom Ash) that quickly, effectively, 
and inexpensively removes arsenic from drinking water. ARUBA uses bottom ash (a finely powdered, sterile waste material from coal-fired power plants) as a substrate. Room-temperature and atmospheric-pressure chemistry is used to coat particles of bottom ash with a ferric hydroxide complex, using inexpensive chemicals. Thus ARUBA can be produced with simple equipment at low cost. To remove arsenic from arsenic-laced water, ARUBA is mixed with the contaminated water. It reacts with and safely immobilizes arsenic by adsorption and/or coprecipitation. The resulting complex can be filtered out of water, and is safe enough for disposal in municipal landfills.
“The Response”
The goal of the Berkeley Arsenic Alleviation Group (BAAG) is to design a device and/or process that utilizes ARUBA to effectively remove arsenic from drinking water. Team members traveled to Bangladesh twice in 2007 (March and July) to quantify ARUBA’s ability to remove arsenic from Bangladeshi groundwater and to test various treatment protocols. Currently, they are devising a way to scale up ARUBA production and designing a proof-of-concept prototype for testing in Bangladesh in Summer 2008.
Alongside the engineering development, the team is designing a survey to collect socioeconomic data from villagers in order develop a sustainable business plan for implementation of a community-scale arsenic treatment center.
Participating Faculty
Dr. Ashok Gadgil, Senior Scientist and Deputy Director Environmental Energy Technologies Division LBNL, Adjunct Professor Energy and Resources Group (Principal Investigator)
Dr. Alice Agogino, Professor, Mechanical Engineering & Haas School of Business
Dr. Lara Gundel, Staff Scientist, LBNL
Dr. Isha Ray, Professor, Energy and Resources Group
Dr. David Roland-Holst, Professor, Agricultural and Resource Economics
Collaborator
Dr. A.B.M Badruzzaman, Professor, Civil Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Participating Students
Johanna Mathieu, MS/PhD student, Mechanical Engineering (Student Lead)
Tasnuva Khan, BA Student, Economics, 2008
Mehmet Seflek, BA Student, Economics, 2009
Kristin Kowolik, BS Student, Chemistry, 2008
Manoj Warrier, MBA student, Haas School of Business
Partnering Organization
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET)
National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA)
Geographical focus
Bangladesh