Fluoride is a toxic substance that can cause adverse effects on human health such as dental and skeletal fluorosis. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the adsorption potential of fluoride from aqueous solution using eggshell pretreated with plasma technology and compare to untreated eggshell. The batch adsorption experiments of fluoride from aqueous solution using pretreated eggshell and untreated eggshell were carried out to compare their performances on fluoride removal efficiency, adsorption capacity and isotherm. The effects of adsorption factors of contact time (5 - 360 min), adsorbent dosage (10 - 35 g/L) and particle size of adsorbent (mesh sieve no.12 - 20 or 0.85 - 1.70 mm sieve opening) were studied. The results showed that with the initial fluoride concentration of 10 mg/L, the optimum condition for the adsorption of fluoride from aqueous solution was obtained with pretreated eggshell at contact time of 180 min, adsorbent dosage of 25 g/L and adsorbent size of Sieve no.16 (≤1.18 mm in diameter). With this optimum condition, the maximum fluoride removal efficiency increased from 59.88 % with untreated eggshell to 90.34 %, which was due to an increase in adsorption sites after surface modification process of eggshell. Moreover, the results clearly showed that adsorption isotherm was fitted by Langmuir model, which indicate a monolayered adsorption. The maximum adsorption capacity was 0.341 mg/g for pretreated eggshell, while this was 0.202 mg/g for untreated eggshell. This study showed that eggshell pretreated with plasma technology has potential for the application of the adsorption of fluoride from aqueous solution in the future and needs further investigation on the continuous adsorption column.
HIGHLIGHTS
Eggshell pretreated with plasma technology (EPPT) was applied for fluoride removal
Effects of contact time, adsorbent dosage and size were examined by batch method
Maximum fluoride (F) removal efficiency was 90.34 % with EPPT at optimum condition
F adsorption on EPPT fitted Langmuir isotherm with maximum capacity of 0.341 mg/g
GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT