Abstract
Endemic fluorosis disease has become a major geo-environmental health care issue caused by fluoride ion. High-efficiency and low-cost materials to uptake fluoride from water have been a chal-lenge for scientists and engineers. Here, we report a low-cost process by utilising low-cost starting materials to develop nanocomposite adsorbents for fluoride uptake from water. Bermuda grass as a starting source material converted into nanocomposite carbon fibers upon heat treatment at 800°C for one hour in Nitrogen atmosphere in the presence of metal oxides. Iron oxide-based nanocomposite (IBNC) is performing high (≈97%) removal of fluoride ion at a contact time of 60 minutes (pH 4) followed by titania-based nanocomposite (TBNC) (≈92%) and micro carbon fiber (≈88%) respectively. The phenomenon of fluoride ion uptake is realised by Freundlich adsorption model, and both adsorption capacity and adsorption intensity for IBNC are higher than those for TBNC and micro carbon fiber.
Highlights
Over the years groundwater has been regarded as the safest and most protected source of water, fit for drinking without treatment
X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of iron oxide and titania induced fiber showed a number of diffraction peaks for each which confirma crystalline product
In the case of iron oxide, the XRD shows the presence of magnetite, iron nitride and iron carbide (Figure 1(b)); while for titania the XRD, shown in Figure 1(c), confirms the presence of the anatase, rutile and brookite structure of TiO2 in the fiber
Summary
Over the years groundwater has been regarded as the safest and most protected source of water, fit for drinking without treatment. Show the alarming threat of groundwater contaminations and the urgent need to find a low-cost treatment process for hazardous elements prior to drinking in different regions of the world. Higher fluoride levels in the groundwater get through these minerals by volcanic and fumarolic processes. Dissolution of these barely soluble minerals depends on the water composition and the time of contact between the source minerals and the water. Fluoride in drinking water may be beneficial or detrimental depending on its concentration [5]. The upper limit of fluoride concentration in the natural drinking water is 1.5 mg/L according to the guidelines for drinking water quality [6]-[8]
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