Treatment of aqueous streams containing strong oxidants using bituminous coal

Certain oxidizing contaminants, notably Cr(VI) and Mn(VII), are attenuated by reduction and sorption on organic matter in soils. Coals have some chemical similarity with this organic matter, and might be used on an industrial scale to treat effluents. We have studied the ability of acidic KMnO{sub 4} to oxidize Upper Freeport, bituminous coal with concurrent sorption of the resulting Mn(IV) and Mn(II). The oxidizing ability of Cr(VI) was briefly investigated. The ability of the oxidized coal to sorb Cu{sup 2+} and Cd{sup 2+} was then studied, and compared with coal oxidized by hydrogen peroxide. The effect of oxidation treatment, metal ion concentration, and solution pH on metal uptake kinetics and coal loading was investigated. Potential applications for treating effluents containing oxidizing ions are discussed