Scientists Discover New Technique to Remove Fluoride from Drinking Water

Scientists Discover New Technique to Remove Fluoride from Drinking Water







Andrew Puhanic, Contributor
Activist Post

Around the world, it is estimated that tens of millions of people are
affected by both dental and skeletal fluorosis. In many cases, it is the
addition of fluoride into drinking water supplies by governments that
is the primary cause of both dental and skeletal fluorosis.

Common techniques used for defluoridation are coagulation-precipitation, membrane process and ion exchange.

The problem with these three techniques is that they are either too expensive or they further pollute the water.

Researchers from the National University of Sciences and Technology in Pakistan have discovered an effective method to remove fluoride from drinking water that is less expensive than conventional filtration processes and is safe to use.

The study, published in the Journal of Chemistry,
concluded that the removal of fluoride from drinking water using
modified immobilized activated alumina (MIAA) resulted in a removal
efficiency that was 1.35 times higher than normal immobilized activated
alumina.


Modified immobilized activated alumina (MIAA) was added to water that
was tainted with fluoride and then analysis was conducted to evaluate
the quantity of fluoride that was removed from the water.

Effect of an adsorbent dose on the removal of fluoride at 20 ± 1°C.

It was discovered that MIAA, at 20 +/- degrees Celsius has the capacity
to remove more than 95% of fluoride from water. In fact, the adsorption
capacity of MIAA was much higher (0.76 mg/g) when compared to the
adsorption capacity of activated charcoal (0.47 mg/g) for the same
concentration fluoride samples.

The adsorption method that is used by modified immobilized activated
alumina (MIAA) is much more cost-effective (Ali, I., & Gupta, V. K.
[2007] Advances in water treatment by adsorption technology. Nature
Protocols) than the popular Reverse Osmosis Filtration method.

Considering that both MIAA and Reverse Osmosis Filtration remove more
than 90% of fluoride, MIAA could be a viable alternative to removing
fluoride from drinking water supplies in developing countries.

Unfortunately, there are some limitations to the use of MIAA in removing fluoride
from drinking water. The greatest challenge in the use of MIAA for
removing fluoride from drinking water is filtering MIAA once all
fluoride has been absorbed.

Real water samples with initial fluoride concentration and final concentration

However, considering that the granules produced by MIAA varied from 3 to
6 mm, all that was required during the study to remove the MIAA
granules from the water was basic water filtration.

Ultimately, the primary challenge faced when trying to removing fluoride from drinking water is cost.

The use of modified immobilized activated alumina (MIAA) to remove
fluoride from drinking water could become a viable option that would
enable communities in both developed and developing nations to remove
fluoride from drinking water.

Source:-
http://www.activistpost.com/2012/11/scientists-discover-new-technique-to.html