Defluoridation of groundwater by calcined Mg/Al layered double hydroxide

The present study evaluated calcined Mg/Al layered double hydroxide (CLDH) availability for the removal of fluoride from local groundwaters. The Mg/Al layered double hydroxide (LDH) was synthesized by co-precipitation method and characterized by XRD, FT-IR and TGA-TDA analyses. Batch defluoridation experiments were performed under various conditions such as calcination, solution pH, contact time, temperature, material dosage and reuse. Experimental results indicate that fluoride removal strongly increased after calcination of the LDH up to 600 °C. The maximum fluoride removal was obtained at solution pH of 6.85. Kinetics of fluoride removal followed the pseudo-second order kinetic model. The rise in solution temperature strongly enhances the removal efficiency. The adsorption mechanism involved surface adsorption, ion exchange interaction and original LDH structure reconstruction by rehydration of mixed metal oxides and concomitant intercalation of fluoride ions into the interlayer region. The optimum dosages required to meet the national standard for drinking water quality were found to be 0.29 and 0.8 g/L, respectively, for Bejaad and Settat goundwaters. A decrease in the fluoride uptake with increasing the number of regeneration cycles was observed.