Facile Remediation Of Fluoride In Aquatic Media Using Modified Polyethylene Container

ABSTRACT

Development of environmentally friendly and economically viable water treatmet techniques for remediation of fluoride ions in drinking water has gained a huge research interest. Floridated water is associated with dental and skeletal disorders. Previously used water treatment methods encountered several limitations such as operational problems and are not regeneratable. Adsorption technique is easy to use and is regeneratable. Adsorbents used include activated carbon and bone char. However, activated carbon is expensive while bone char is not acceptable to some religions. Therefore there is need to search for cheaper and widely acceptable adsorbents. This research studied the use of polyethylene wastes from the enivironment `as a green water treatment technique. Polyethylene wastes were separately dispersed in 1, 2-dichloroethane or liquid vegetable oil. The dispersed wastes were each divided into two where one portion was chemically modified with ethylamine, diethylamine and triethylamine separately. Both modified and unmodified adsorbents were characterized using fourier trasnsform infra red spectroscopy (FTIR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The characterized materials were subjected to removal of fluoride ions and optimal parameters were applied. Liquid vegetable oil dispersed and activated with triethylamine adsorbent gave an adsorption capacity of 10.30 mg/g at pH 7. 0 fitting well in Langmuir model (R2 = 0.864) and was a pseudo first order (R2 = 0.726). When 1, 2 dicholoroethane dispersed and activated with triethylamine adsorbent was used, removal capacity of 0.17 mg/g at pH 4.0 was recorded. Using fabricated container, Lake Baringo water sample having a fluoride ion concentration of 2.5 mg/L had its fluoride concentration reduced to 1.5 mg/L. Thermodynamic parameter proved that fluoride ions removal was a spontaneous and exothermic process. This study presents an ecofriendly and cheaper method for water treatment and helps to curb polyethylene waste menace in the environment.