Adsorptive removal of fluoride and nitrate using laterite soil

This book features treatment of synthetic wastewater containing fluoride and nitrate ions by using surface modified laterite soil. Drinking water containing high amount of fluoride and nitrate can cause serious health hazards to the people across the globe like fluorosis, neurological disorders in severe cases, methemoglobinemia etc. Hence it is required to keep the concentrations of fluoride and nitrate well in the limits prescribed by WHO. The present study has been undertaken to prepare efficient fluoride and nitrate adsorbent from raw laterite by acid, followed by alkali treatment to modify the surface characteristics. Batch experiments were performed to study the adsorption of fluoride and nitrate ions on Treated Laterite (TL) adsorbent with fixed size. Characterization of TL was carried out using various techniques such as BET Surface Area Analysis, FTIR, XRD, FE-SEM and EDAX. Effects of process parameters like pH, Adsorbent dose, contact time and initial ion concentration on the removal of fluoride and nitrate from synthetic water have been investigated using TL as adsorbent to determine optimum process conditions for maximum removal.