ABSTRACT
There have been a number of techniques available for removal of arsenic (As) from groundwater (Mukherjee et al. 2007). Among these, some are efficient but expensive whereas others are cheaper but not so efficient. The Solar Oxidation and Removal of Arsenic (SORAS) is known to be a simple, user-friendly technique which is also highly cost effective and efficient to remove As from drinking water. The technique involves oxidation of As promoted by the presence of lemon (Hug et al. 2001) and produces non-hazardous chemicals. In this study, for the first time, we have shown that tomato and lime can effectively be used as low-cost natural citrate sources in SORAS technique to remove As. The efficiencies of tomato and lime were compared with that of lemon to establish their role as alternative citrate source in SORAS. The effect of As/Fe molar ratios and citrate doses were optimized to improve their removal capability.
