A review of the environmental chemical behavior, detection and treatment of antimony

Antimony (Sb), a toxic metalloid element, is located in the Group VA of the fifth period of the periodic table of elements. At present, with the wide use of antimony containing products in the world and the corresponding mining activities, a large number of antimony containing waste generated in these processes has also been released to the environment, resulting in antimony pollution has become a problem that cannot be ignored. People exposed to high concentrations of antimony will produce a series of health risks, which may lead to vomiting, diarrhea, rash and other diseases, and even cancer. Antimony in the environment comes from natural processes (ore weathering, volcanic activity) and human activities (mining and smelting, use of antimony containing products, fossil fuel combustion, etc.). Similar to many elements, the toxicity of antimony is closely related to its chemical form, and the toxicity of Sb(III) is much higher than Sb(V). Antimony exists in various chemical forms in the environment (mainly Sb(III) and Sb(V)), and its environmental chemical behavior is easily affected by various environmental factors. Redox conditions can change the chemical form of antimony and affect its migration and transformation in environmental media. Once the antimony minerals are oxidized in contact with the air, antimony will be released in a dissolved state, and then attached to the surface of various solid particles in the tailings in the form of adsorption. It is easy to migrate and diffuse to the surrounding environment under the leaching of surface water, and absorbed by plant roots. In addition, this review also emphasizes the detection methods of antimony, in which the development of combined technology is an increasingly attractive research field in antimony speciation analysis. Finally, we provide several commonly used Sb removal technologies, and critically analyze the remarkable characteristics and removal mechanism of these technologies, hoping to provide reference for the treatment and research of antimony pollution. (C) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Automated summary

Antimony, a toxic metalloid element, is causing pollution issues due to its wide use and mining activities. The toxicity of antimony is closely related to its chemical form, with Sb(III) being more toxic than Sb(V). Antimony exists in various forms in the environment and is easily affected by environmental factors.