Characterization and adsorption properties of a lanthanum-loaded magnetic cationic hydrogel composite for fluoride removal

Abstract

In this study, a novel lanthanum-loaded magnetic cationic hydrogel (MCH-La) was synthesized for fluoride adsorption from drinking water. The adsorption kinetics, isotherms, and effects of pH and co-existing anions on fluoride uptake by MCH-La were evaluated. FTIR, Raman and XPS were used to analyze the fluoride adsorption mechanism of MCH-La. Results showed that MCH-La had positive zeta potential values of 23.6–8.0 mV at pH 3.0–11.0, with the magnitude of saturation magnetization up to 10.3 emu/g. The fluoride adsorption kinetics by MCH-La fitted well with the fractal-like-pseudo-second-order model, and the adsorption capacity reached 93% of the ultimate adsorption capacity within the first 10 min. The maximum fluoride adsorption capacity for MCH-La was 136.78 mg F−/g at an equilibrium fluoride concentration of 29.3 mg/L and pH 7.0. Equilibrium adsorption data showed that the Sips model was more suitable than the Langmuir and Freundlich models. MCH-La still had more than 100 mg of F−/g adsorption capacity at a strongly alkaline solution (pH > 10). The adsorption process was highly pH-dependent, and the optimal adsorption was attained at pH 2.8–4.0, corresponding to ligand exchange, electrostatic interactions, and Lewis acid–base interactions. With the exception of both anions of HCO3− and SiO44−, Cl−, NO3−, and SO42− did not evidently prevent fluoride removal by MCH-La at their real concentrations in natural groundwater. The fluoride adsorption capacity of the regenerated MCH-La approached 70% of the fresh MCH-La from the second to fifth recycles. FTIR and Raman spectra revealed that C–O and CO functional groups on MCH contributed to the fluoride adsorption, this finding was also confirmed by the XPS F 1s spectra. Deconvolution of C 1s spectra before and after fluoride adsorption indicated that the carboxyl, anhydride, and phenol groups of MCH were involved in the fluoride removal.