Selection of an adsorbent for lead removal from drinking water by a point-of-use treatment device

The removal of lead from drinking water was investigated to develop a point-of-use water filter that could meet the regulation imposed by the new European Directive 98-83 lowering lead concentration in drinking water below 10 μg L⁻¹. The objective of this research was to assess the potential of different adsorbents (zeolites, resins, activated carbon, manganese oxides, cellulose powder) to remove lead from tap water with a very short contact time. To begin, the repartition of the lead species in a tap water and a mineral water was computed with the computer model CHESS. It showed that in bicarbonated waters lead is mainly under lead carbonate form, either in the aqueous or in the mineral phase. Batch experiments were then conducted to measure the equilibrium adsorption isotherms of the adsorbents. Then, for five of them, dynamic experiments in micro-columns were carried out to assess the outlet lead concentration level. Three adsorbents gave rise to a leakage concentration lower than 10 μg L⁻¹ and were then selected for prototypes experiments: chabasite, an activated carbon coated with a synthetic zeolite and a natural manganese oxide. The proposed method clearly showed that the measurement of equilibrium isotherms is not sufficient to predict the effectiveness of an adsorbent, and must be coupled with dynamic experiments.