Abstract
Abstract
Arsenic and fluoride are both contributors to the global water crisis, with significant health problems resulting from drinking water with levels higher than the 0.01 mg/L and 1.5 mg/L World Health Organization standards, respectively. This study evaluates fish bone char as an appropriate fluoride and arsenic removal technology for emerging regions, and investigates differences between fish bone char and cow bone char. The results of batch tests, specific surface area measurements, chemical composition testing, and point of zero charge (PZC) determination show that charring temperature affects the capacity of fish bone char to adsorb fluoride. It was found that 500°C is the best charring temperature based on removal effectiveness and residual water quality. Specific surface area is affected by charring temperature. It was observed that at lower temperatures, such as 300°C, some of the organic material was not removed during charring and the specific surface area was only 25% of what was observed at higher temperatures. The study also found that fish bone char can remove fluoride and arsenic simultaneously with minimal competition, albeit fluoride is removed more effectively than arsenic. Additionally, the data suggest that fish bone char is a viable option for fluoride removal in developing countries, and minor differences in fluoride removal capacity between cow bone char and fish bone char were discussed. These differences were found to be caused in part by variation in phosphorus content and equilibrium pH of the solution in contact with the bone char media.
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