Preparation and characterization of porous granular ceramic containing dispersed aluminum and iron oxides as adsorbents for fluoride removal from aqueous solution

Porous granular ceramic adsorbents containing dispersed aluminum and iron oxides were synthesized by impregnating with salt solutions followed by precipitation at 600 degrees C. In the present work detailed studies were carried out to investigate the effect of contact time, adsorbent dose, initial solution pH and co-existing anions. Characterization studies on the adsorbent by SEM, XRD, EDS, and BET analysis were carried out to clarify the adsorption mechanism. The adsorbents were sphere in shape, 2-3 mm in particle size, highly porous and showed specific surface area of 50.69 sq m/g. The fluoride adsorption capacity of prepared adsorbent was 1.79 mg/g, and the maximum fluoride removal was obtained at pH 6. Both the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models were found to represent the measured adsorption data well. The experimental data were well explained with pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Results from this study demonstrated potential utility of Al/Fe dispersed in porous granular ceramics that could be developed into a viable technology for fluoride removal from aqueous solution. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.