| Resumo: | In the present research, arsenic removal processes are applied to effluents from the METALESA mineral beneficiation plant in Ecuador's mining district of Ponce Enriquez. Research has shown that the processes evaluated are efficient and relatively simple to apply. The treatments applied to the metallurgical effluents include: flocculation, active filtration, floating flocculation-filtration, static filtration; the material used in the filtration, column type, was activated carbon. At laboratory scale, the equipment necessary for the development of the proposed arsenic removal processes has been adapted. This includes the adaptation of activated carbon filtration columns. The initial sample of 2000 cc presented an arsenic concentration of 1.87 mg/l, the total application time of the processes was 12 hours, after which the arsenic concentrations present in the effluent were evaluated; with the exception of active filtration processes, which required samples every 3 hours to model the removal kinetics. Based on the results, the flocculation-active filtration process removed 50% of arsenic (As). Following 26.6 hours of treatment, the concentration should be below the Ecuadorian limits of 0.1 mg/l for discharge to freshwater bodies, based on the kinetic modeling. For static filtration, removals were 41%, 33%, and 25%., flocculation and active filtration respectively. The variation of the hydrogen potential (pH) during the process is also verified, varying from 5.5 to 9. Key words: arsenic, flocculation, activated carbon, filtration, mining.
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