Acid treated diatomaceous earth (ATDE) from a mining site in Kenya was evaluated for its removal of F from aqueous solutions using adsorption batch experiments. The effect of initial F concentration, adsorbent dosage,...Acid treated diatomaceous earth (ATDE) from a mining site in Kenya was evaluated for its removal of F from aqueous solutions using adsorption batch experiments. The effect of initial F concentration, adsorbent dosage, contact time, temperature, pH and competing anions was studied. The adsorption process was very fast reaching an initial equilib- rium in just 10 min. Fluoride adsorption onto ATDE increased strongly from just about 40% to over 92% when the solution temperature was raised from 293 to 303 K. The process was however, almost unresponsive to pH changes drop- ping by a margin of - ions does not affect F adsorption onto ATDE. More so apart from the Cl- ions which marginally reduced F adsorption onto ATDE, there was no obvious effect of the SO42- , NO3- and PO43- ions on F uptake by ATDE. Complete F removal (100% adsorption) could be achieved at 400 mg/L initial F concentra- tions using 0.5 g/mL ATDE batch loading ratio at 303 - 313 K and pH = 3.4 ± 0.2. The F adsorption iso- therm was well correlated to the Freundlich and Langmuir models and could be classified as H-Type according to Giles classification of isotherms. The maximum Langmuir F adsorption capacity of ATDE was 51.1 mg/g. It has been demonstrated that a diatomaceous mineral from Kenya could be use as an inexpensive adsorbent for the removal of F ions from aqueous streams.展开更多
文摘Acid treated diatomaceous earth (ATDE) from a mining site in Kenya was evaluated for its removal of F from aqueous solutions using adsorption batch experiments. The effect of initial F concentration, adsorbent dosage, contact time, temperature, pH and competing anions was studied. The adsorption process was very fast reaching an initial equilib- rium in just 10 min. Fluoride adsorption onto ATDE increased strongly from just about 40% to over 92% when the solution temperature was raised from 293 to 303 K. The process was however, almost unresponsive to pH changes drop- ping by a margin of - ions does not affect F adsorption onto ATDE. More so apart from the Cl- ions which marginally reduced F adsorption onto ATDE, there was no obvious effect of the SO42- , NO3- and PO43- ions on F uptake by ATDE. Complete F removal (100% adsorption) could be achieved at 400 mg/L initial F concentra- tions using 0.5 g/mL ATDE batch loading ratio at 303 - 313 K and pH = 3.4 ± 0.2. The F adsorption iso- therm was well correlated to the Freundlich and Langmuir models and could be classified as H-Type according to Giles classification of isotherms. The maximum Langmuir F adsorption capacity of ATDE was 51.1 mg/g. It has been demonstrated that a diatomaceous mineral from Kenya could be use as an inexpensive adsorbent for the removal of F ions from aqueous streams.
