Magnetically Recoverable Fe3O4/Zeolite NaA Nanocomposites for Efficient Arsenic Removal and Scalable Point-of-Use Water Purification

This paper presents a hybrid material of Fe3O4 nanoparticles on zeolite NaA for removing arsenic from water, which can be recovered with a magnet after treatment. Zeolite NaA was prepared hydrothermally, and the Fe3O4 particles were made by co-precipitation and then introduced into the zeolite gel. The material was examined with XRD, FESEM, EDX, XRF, Raman, FTIR and surface area measurements; compositional analysis indicates that both phases are preserved. Batch adsorption tests with As(III) and As(V) used initial concentrations of 0.2–5.0 mg/L, pH 3–9 and contact times of 5–120 minutes. Kinetics were best described by the pseudo-second-order model and equilibrium by the Langmuir isotherm, pointing to monolayer chemisorption. The authors recommend further tests in real water matrices and over repeated regeneration cycles.