Controlling metal ion migration in contaminated groundwater with Iraqi clay barriers for water resource protection

Ayad A H Faisal; Zaid Abed Al-Ridah; Nadhir Al-Ansari; Waqed H Hassan; Osamah Al-Hashimi; Ayman A Ghfar; Khalid Hashim

doi:10.1039/d3ra01773g

Controlling metal ion migration in contaminated groundwater with Iraqi clay barriers for water resource protection

RSC Adv. 2023 May 30;13(24):16196-16205. doi: 10.1039/d3ra01773g.

Authors

Ayad A H Faisal¹, Zaid Abed Al-Ridah², Nadhir Al-Ansari³, Waqed H Hassan^{4

5}, Osamah Al-Hashimi⁶, Ayman A Ghfar⁷, Khalid Hashim⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Baghdad Baghdad Iraq ayad.faesal@coeng.uobaghdad.edu.iq.
² College of Engineering, Al-Qasim Green University Babylon Iraq zaidalmnsory@yahoo.com.
³ Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Lulea University of Technology 97187 Lulea Sweden nadhir.alansari@ltu.se.
⁴ College of Engineering, University of Warith Al-Anbiyaa Kerbala Iraq.
⁵ Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Kerbala Kerbala 56001 Iraq waaqidh@uokerbala.edu.iq.
⁶ School of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool L3 3AF UK O.A.AlHASHIMI@2020.ljmu.ac.uk K.S.Hashim@ljmu.ac.uk.
⁷ Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University P.O. Box 2455 Riyadh 11451 Saudi Arabia aghafr@ksu.edu.sa.

Abstract

This study investigates the effectiveness of using Iraqi clay as a low-permeability layer to prevent the migration of lead and nickel ions in groundwater-aquifers. Tests of batch operation have been conducted to determine the optimal conditions for removing Pb²⁺ ions, which were found to be 120 minutes of contact time, a pH of 5, 0.12 g of clay per 100 mL of solution, and an agitation of 250 rpm. These conditions resulted in a 90% removal efficiency for a 50 mg L^-1 initial concentration of lead ions. To remove nickel ions with an efficiency of 80%, the optimal conditions were 60 minutes of contact time, a pH of 6, 12 g of clay per 100 mL of solution, and an agitation of 250 rpm. Several sorption models were evaluated, and the Langmuir formula was found to be the most effective. The highest sorption capacities were 1.75 and 137 mg g^-1 for nickel and lead ions, respectively. The spread of metal ions was simulated using finite element analysis in the COMSOL multiphysics simulation software, taking into account the presence of a clay barrier. The results showed that the barrier creates low-discharge zones along the down-gradient of the barrier, reducing the rate of pollutant migration to protect the water sources.