The removal of arsenic (As(V) and As(III)) from contaminated water has attracted great attention. However, the generation of arsenic-containing hazardous waste by traditional methods has become an inevitable environmental problem. Herein, a UV/sulfite advanced reduction method was proposed to remove As(V) and As(III) from aqueous solution in the form of valuable elemental arsenic (As(0)), thus avoiding the generation of arsenic-containing hazardous waste. The results showed that greater than 99.9% of As(V) and As(III) were reduced to the high purity As(0) (> 99.5 wt%) with the residual arsenic concentration below 10 μg L⁻¹. The hydrated electrons (e_aq⁻), H^• and SO₃^•− radicals are generated by the UV/sulfite process, of which e_aq⁻ and H^• serve as reductants of As(V) and As(III) while the SO₃^•− radicals inhibit arsenic reduction by oxidizing arsenic. The effective quantum efficiency (Φ) for the formation of As(0) in the As(V) and As(III) removal process is approximately 0.0078 and 0.0055 mol/Einstein, respectively. The reduction of arsenic is favorable under alkaline conditions (pH > 9.0) due to the higher photolysis efficiency of SO₃²⁻ than HSO₃⁻ (pK_a = 7.2) and higher stability of e_aq⁻/H^• under alkaline conditions. The presence of dissolved oxygen (O₂), NO₂⁻, NO₃⁻, CO₃²⁻, PO₄³⁻ and humic acid (HA) inhibited arsenic reduction through light blocking or e_aq⁻/H^• scavenging effects while Cl⁻, SO₄²⁻, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ had negligible effects on arsenic reduction. The proposed method can effectively remove and recover arsenic from contaminated water at a low cost, demonstrating feasibility for practical application. This study provides a novel technology for the reductive removal and recovery of arsenic from contaminated water.

从污染水中去除砷（As（V）和As（III））引起了人们的极大关注。然而，传统方法产生含砷危险废物已成为不可避免的环境问题。在此，提出了一种紫外/亚硫酸盐高级还原方法，从水溶液中以有价值的元素砷 (As(0)) 的形式去除 As(V) 和 As(III)，从而避免了含砷危险废物的产生。结果表明，99.9% 以上的 As(V) 和 As(III) 被还原为高纯度 As(0) (> 99.5 wt%)，残留砷浓度低于 10 μg L ^-1。水合电子（e _aq ^-）、H ^•和 SO ₃ ^•-UV/亚硫酸盐过程产生自由基，其中e _aq ^-和H ^•作为As(V) 和As(III) 的还原剂，而SO ₃ ^•-自由基通过氧化砷抑制砷还原。在 As(V) 和 As(III) 去除过程中形成 As(0) 的有效量子效率 (Φ) 分别约为 0.0078 和 0.0055 mol/Einstein。由于 SO ₃ ^2-的光解效率高于 HSO ₃ ^- (pK _a  = 7.2) 和 e _aq ^- /H ^•在碱性条件下。溶解氧 (O ₂ )、NO ₂ ^-、NO ₃ ^-、CO ₃ ^2-、PO ₄ ^3-和腐植酸 (HA) 的存在通过阻光或 e _aq ^- /H ^•清除作用抑制砷还原，而 Cl ^- , SO ₄ ^2- , Ca ²⁺和 Mg ²⁺对砷还原的影响可以忽略不计。所提出的方法可以以低成本有效地从污染水中去除和回收砷，具有实际应用的可行性。该研究为从污染水中还原去除和回收砷提供了一种新技术。