FURI | Spring 2018

Leaching and Attrition of Layered Double Hydroxide Sorbents for Selenium Oxoanions

Layered double hydroxides (LDH) show promise as a nanomaterial sorbent for selenium in order to prevent environmental concerns of this element, but they can greatly increase alkalinity and concentrations of other elements to impractical levels. The goal is to understand how this is happening and how to remediate this problem. Through testing with various water samples, LDH appears to undergo attrition and to be leaching into the water. This can be prevented through its inclusion in a composite material, which opens new opportunities to provide clean water by determining how to make it most effective at removal without adverse effects.