Iranian Journal of

Background and Objectives: Fluoride has both beneficial and detrimental effects on health. Therefore, it is important to determine its concentration in drinking water. Dental fluorosis and skeletal fluorosis are health effects caused by long term exposure to high levels of fluoride in drinking water. The aim of this research was to investigate fluoride removal using modified diatomite-supported ferric oxide nanoparticles and to determine the adsorption kinetics and isotherm.

Materials and Methods: This fundamental and practical study was performed at laboratory scale. The effects of pH (3.5-9.5), contact time (20-100 min), adsorbent dosage (1-5 g/L), and initial concentrations of fluoride (5-25 mg/L) on the adsorption efficiency were evaluated. The properties of adsorbent were investigated using XRD, XRF, FTIR and FESEM. Finally, the suitability of pseudo first and second order kinetics, and Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms for the data were investigated.

Results: This study showed that the removal efficiency of F^- increased with increase in contact time, decrease in pH, increase in adsorbent dose, and increase in initial fluoride concentration. The highest removal efficiency was observed at pH=3.5, 60 minutes contact time, and 3 g/L of adsorbent dose in the initial concentration of 5 mg/L F^-. Pseudo first order and Freundlich were the best fitted kinetic and isotherm models, respectively, for describing F^- adsorption process.

Conclusion: The present study indicates that the modified diatomite-supported ferric oxide nanoparticles can be used as an effective and environmentally friendly biosorbent for the removal of fluoride ions from aqueous solutions.