Abstract
Many countries are confronted with a striking problem of morbidity of fluorosis that appears because of an increased concentration of fluorides in drinking water. The objective of this study is to explore opportunities for removal of fluoride from aqueous solutions using cheap and easily accessible adsorbents, such as exhaustive coffee grounds and iron sludge and to establish the efficiency of fluoride removal. Twelve doses (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 g/L) of adsorbents were used and five durations of the sorption process (30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 min). The results showed that the most optimum dose of iron sludge for 3 mg/L of fluoride removal was 30 g/L and the contact time was 30 min, the efficiency of fluoride removal achieved 62.92%; the most optimum dose of exhausted coffee grounds was 60 g/L with the most optimum contact time of 60 min; at a dose of 50 g/L with contact time of 90 min, the efficiency of fluoride removal achieved 56.67%. Findings demonstrate that adsorbents have potential applicability in fluoride removal up to the permissible norms.
Highlights
Fluoride is one of the earth’s most abundant elements and exists in almost all groundwaters around the world
How the fluoride concentration varies in samples when the sorbent dose and the contact time are changed was explored
In order for concentrations of fluoride in drinking water to correspond to the permissible norm of the World Health Organization, there are three main operating parameters of filtration: (1) nature of adsorbents, (2) extent of contaminants and (3) the hydraulics need to be investigated
Summary
Fluoride is one of the earth’s most abundant elements and exists in almost all groundwaters around the world. High concentrations of fluoride in drinking water raise concerns about its effect on human health. Fluoride ions are abundant in mineral and water sources as they can appear in the food chain while drinking water or consuming vegetable food [1]. Depending on its concentration in drinking water, fluoride ions can be useful or harmful for human health. At concentrations of 0.4–1 mg/L, fluoride is useful for children to prevent tooth decay. Overuse of fluoride can lead to tooth or skeletal fluorosis [1,2,3]
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