MadSci Network: Environment |
Hi: Sorry, but that would not be the way to go about removing either uranium or arsenic from water. Think about the energy it would take to separate hydrogen from oxygen; and even if you did, you would no longer have water. The objective is to remove the contaminants from the water, not to break up the atomic structure of the water molecule. However, there are standard methods for removing/reducing both uranium and arsenic from water. See http://www.dph.state.ct.us/Publications/BRS/EOHA/uranium3.pdf, for example. Earlier this year there was a national conference on the occurrence and treatment of four contaminants in water, including arsenic and uranium. One of the subjects was treatment methods and systems. Check out the agenda here. You should be able to contact some of the people who spoke on issues that you are interested in. They would be the real experts to help you with your science project! Here is another newly reported way to treat arsenic. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6136970.stm. You could also search the Web for private companies (consultants) who specialize in water treatment systems. One thing I would suggest to do is try to find out if there is a cost-effective treatment system that would treat both uranium and arsenic, instead of having to use two different systems.
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