Study on the fluoride adsorption of various apatite materials in aqueous solution

The aim of this study was to evaluate the defluoridation efficiencies of various sorbents in aqueous solution. These sorbents include synthetic nano-hydroxyapatite (n-HAp), biogenic apatite (bone meal), treated biogenic apatite (bone meal prepared by H₂O₂ oxidation) and geogenic apatite (rock phosphate), which were characterized by XRD, FTIR, TEM and SEM. It has been observed that the defluoridation capacities follow the order: n-HAp > BH₂O₂ > B > rock phosphate. The controlling factors, sorbent dose, initial fluoride concentration, pH, contact time and temperature were investigated. The defluoridation capacities increased with the increase in the initial fluoride concentration and contact time, decreased with the increase in the sorbent dose. The optimum pH range for removal of fluoride on various apatite sorbents was considered to be 5.0–6.0. The fluoride adsorption can be explained by Langmuir, Freundlich isotherms, and the adsorption kinetic data follow the pseudo-second-order model. Thermodynamic parameters such as ΔH⁰, ΔS⁰ and ΔG⁰ indicated that the adsorption on various apatite sorbents was spontaneous and endothermic. These results showed that bone meal is a promising material for fluoride adsorption.