Abstract:
This study aimed to investigate adsorption capacity of fluoride (F-) by conventional bone char (BC), and chemically activated bone char (by sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide), as well as evaluating the release of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from BC. Moreover, adsorption of DOC by granular activated carbon (GAC) was also investigated. In batch adsorption, obtained results indicated that pristine BC had higher F- removal efficiency than chemically activated bone char due to the decrease of hydroxyapatite (HAP) in bone char structure after chemical activation. The adsorption kinetics and isotherms of F- by BC were well described by the pseudo-first-order kinetic model and linear isotherm model, respectively. Whereas, the adsorption kinetic and isotherm of DOC by GAC was well fitted by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and both linear and Redlich & Peterson isotherm models, respectively. The concentration of F-, calcium (Ca2+) and phosphate (PO43-) was significantly changed. Ion-exchange and chemical precipitation was expected to be the main mechanism for the changing of F- and Ca2+, respectively. And that the effect of ion-exchange mechanism might release PO43- into the solution. In the column test, increasing length in a column can increase breakthrough time while adsorbents usage rate was decreased. The Thomas model can be fitted well with the experimental data of column test for both fluoride removal by BC and DOC removal by GAC. Whereas, the DOC release by BC column was a peak at the beginning of the experiment and decreased with time.