Metal Contamination of Water

Testing this morning for chlorine found that it had diminished to the point that none was detected - 0.00 mg/L. chlorine is no longer an issue. The scenario has been re-written and submitted under the General Section at

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/22529/A-bit-of-Silver-in-a-LOT-of-Water

Any comments (and, YES, they would be most appreciated!) are best left there.

Thanks, and

Best Regards.

The chlorine probably evaporated off since you said the vessel is open to the atmosphere. This is why when you are setting up a fish tank, everyone always says make sure to fill the tank with water and let it sit over night - to let the chlorine in the water evaporate off.

As for removing metals from the water, I am not sure what the best way of doing this is. Besides silver, what other metals are present? Heavy metals even in minute amounts can have seriously bad effects on plant and animal life. They will accumulate in the food chain until people eventually consume it, then people suffer from all kinds of bad health problems as a result of exposure to heavy metals. Please PLEASE do NOT just dump the water into the river untreated!!

Hopefully someone else will be able to weigh in.

If the potassium dosage is out of limits, it can be removed by ion exchange, reverse osmosis or electrodialysis. Note that these are all very costly options. Silver salts tend to break down when exposed to light, so illumination, particularly with UV, may be helpful since UV can be used to break down chlorine in water.

You can also use bioremediation, the use of natural processes, as a low cost alternative to remove the dissolved metals. Plants that are particularly effective at removing heavy metals include Canadian pondweed (Elodea canadensis), Carolina pondweed (Cabomba carolinensis), duckweed (Lemna spp.), cattails (Typha spp.), bulrush (Schoenoplectus spp.), reeds (Phragmites australis), and water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes). If you decide to take this option, please note that duckweed, cattails and water hyacinth are classified as undesirable invasive alien species by the EPA, so check with the relevant authorities before using them.

1-If it possible to make big hall in nearst desert land and start to deliver water in it,

then,the ground layers will filter this water .

2- If possible to use mainprane ( Reverse Osmosise ) system .

You really do need somebody who knows a little chemistry. For one thing, it is well known that Silver Chloride is almost insoluble in water.

"Silver chloride is a chemical compound with the chemical formula AgCl. This white crystalline solid is well known for its low solubility in water (this behavior being reminiscent of the chlorides of Tl+ and Pb2+). Upon illumination or heating, silver chloride converts to silver (and chlorine), which is signalled by greyish or purplish coloration to some samples."

from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_chloride

In an alkaline medium, Silver Chloride is readily reduced to metallic silver with relatively weak reducing agents, such as hydroquinone. That is why there are silver-based photographic processes. Given enough time and exposure to light, the Silver Chloride will be reduced to metallic silver without any additional help, all by itself.

I applaud you for doing the right thing. There are 2 possiblities you have not explored.

1) If you have 10 acres you could evaporate the water in a few days in the June & July heat.

2) You could dildute the mixture into an adjacent pond or structure before discharging. This would take longer, but would reduce the concentration.