ABSTRACT Fluoride levels in drinking water pose a significant environmental threat, and adsorption is a common technique. However, many adsorbent materials have drawbacks such as poor adsorption capabilities, extended contact times, high pH levels, and large dosages. A biochar-based magnetic composite adsorbent has been developed for water defluoridation using a chemical co-precipitation process to immobilize iron particles on the biochar surface. X-ray diffraction analysis, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, and scanning electron microscopy were used to analyse the composite. The central composite design was used to design laboratory tests, which included four input variables: solution pH, dosage, contact time, and initial concentration. The adsorbent dosage was 5.92 g/L, the aqueous pH was 5.79, the contact time was 66.48 min, and the initial fluoride concentration was 12.38 mg/L. The removal efficiency was predicted to be 98.61%, with a 98.55% removal efficiency at optimum conditions. The study concluded that the composite adsorbent can be a reliable and sustainable solution for fluoride removal from water.
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