Arsenic in Slovakia: Pollution Issues and the Potential of Magnetic Carbon Biomaterials for Wastewater Treatment

In Slovakia, there are a number of contaminated sites that have occurred due to intensive mining, mineral processing, metallurgical activities, chemical industry, fossil fuel combustion, and industrial agriculture in the past. This paper summarizes the occurrence, chemistry, toxicity, and mineralogy of arsenic species related to soil and water contamination in Slovakia. Four main localities with arsenic exposure were identified. Additionally, magnetically modified carbon biochar (MWchar-Mag) was tested for arsenic removal from a model solution alongside real mine water discharged from the abandoned Hauser adit. For the model aqueous solution, the maximum adsorption capacity was established at 6.2 mg of As per g of MWchar-Mag at natural pH. In the case of mine water with a concentration of arsenic at around 0.2 mg/L, adsorbent dosage, pH influence experiments, and kinetic tests were realized. The results confirmed 100% arsenic removal efficiency at pH~3-7 and extremely fast kinetics.