Removal of fluoride from aqueous solutions by Eichhornia crassipes biomass and its carbonized form

The purpose of this paper is to suggest an efficient defluoridation process that does not require a large investment. The conventional processes of fluoride removal from water are ion exchange, reverse osmosis, and electrodialysis. However, the utility of these processes has been limited because of their expensive operation and subsequent problem of disposing of the waste being generated. Sorption is an effective technology for the treatment of industrial wastewater. Eichhornia crassipes and the activated carbon derived from this plant were examined to assess their capacity for the removal of fluoride from wastewater by batch techniques. Systematic batch studies on fluoride adsorption equilibrium and kinetics by E. crassipes and low-cost activated carbons prepared from E. crassipes were carried out. Studies were conducted to determine the optimum operating system parameters required for the establishment of columns such as contact time, dose, and size of the adsorbent. The adsorption of fluoride on noncar...