Increasing The Efficiency of Bone Charcoal in Water Defluoridation Using Eggshell Powder and Dry Banana Peel Medium (DBPM)

Abstract

The world health organization (WHO) has set an upper limit of 1.5 mg/l fluoride concentration in water meant for human consumption. Ground water has high fluoride level which exceeds the value recommended by the WHO. Defluoridation is the only viable way of dealing with the issue of high fluoride levels in water. The most common defluoridation method is the use of bone charcoal. This research shows how adding dry banana peel medium (DBPM) and egg shell powder to bone charcoal increases its defluoridation capacity as well as the water defluoridation rate. Raw water samples were collected from different boreholes and their initial fluoride concentration measured. The groundwater was then subjected to different adsorbent combinations of bone charcoal, eggshell powder and DBPM and the rate of fluoride removal as well as the final concentration of fluoride in the water after two hours, were determined. Eggshell powder and DBPM were found to increase the fluoride removal capacity of bone charcoal by more than 20%. The highest fluoride removal was achieved when bone charcoal was combined compositely with eggshell powder and DBPM. Hence the addition of eggshell powder and DBPM was found to increase the defluoridation rate as well as the fluoride removal capacity of bone charcoal.