Antimony and Arsenic Removal from Water and Soil, and Copper Anode Slime Processing
This community focuses on the separation, removal, and recovery of antimony and arsenic from contaminated water and soil, alongside the metallurgical processing of copper anode slime. The work addresses the challenge of extracting these elements from complex environmental matrices and industrial by-products to mitigate toxicity and recover valuable materials.
The research is dominated by studies on adsorption mechanisms, particularly using zero-valent iron, biochar, and modified mineral composites for the efficient removal of trivalent antimony (Sb(III)) and arsenic from aqueous solutions. A significant parallel strand involves the hydrometallurgical treatment of copper anode slime, utilizing vacuum distillation and leaching processes to recover antimony, tellurium, and selenium. The recurring themes include the speciation of antimony, the development of efficient separation techniques, and the assessment of health risks associated with heavy metal contamination in mining areas and drinking water sources.
The largest share of the community's output is found in antimony research, accounting for 8.0% of all antimony research, and comprising 3,612 papers within this group. Copper research follows with 840 papers, representing 0.3% of copper research, while arsenic research contributes 813 papers, or 0.5% of that element's total research.
The community comprises 7,452 papers, publishing most frequently in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, Separation and Purification Technology, and Hydrometallurgy. Recent work continues to focus on advanced catalytic methods for antimony removal from wastewater, the in-situ stabilization of antimony and arsenic in co-contaminated soils, and the optimization of vacuum distillation processes for recovering selenium and antimony from copper anode slime.