Entrapment of powdered drinking water treatment residues in calcium-alginate beads for fluoride removal from actual industrial wastewater

• Drinking water treatment residues based particulate adsorbents were prepared.
• Adsorption tests show the endothermic nature of adsorption process.
• Fluoride adsorption capacity was comparable with various powdered adsorbents.
• Fluoride removal from industrial wastewater was monitored in fixed-bed column.
• Breakthrough capacity was highly dependent on fixed-bed column height.

The present study describes the preparation of drinking water treatment residues (DWTRs) based adsorptive media (DREAM) by entrapping the powdered-DWTRs in calcium-alginate beads and their application to fluoride removal from actual industrial wastewater. In order to evaluate the fluoride adsorption capability and mechanisms of DREAM, the adsorption equilibrium isotherm, kinetics, and effect of solution pH on fluoride removal by DREAM were evaluated. The batch and fixed-bed column adsorption tests confirmed that DREAM had high selectivity for adsorbing fluoride from actual industrial wastewater, which contained other co-existing anions (e.g., nitrate, chloride, and sulfate).

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