Adsorption process of fluoride from drinking water with magnetic core-shell Ce-Ti@Fe3O4 and Ce-Ti oxide nanoparticles

© 2017 Synthesized magnetic core-shell Ce-Ti@Fe3O4 nanoparticles were tested, as an adsorbent, for fluoride removal and the adsorption studies were optimized. Adsorption capacity was compared with the synthesized Ce-Ti oxide nanoparticles. The adsorption equilibrium for the Ce-Ti@Fe3O4 adsorbent was found to occur in < 15 min and it was demonstrated to be stable and efficient in a wide pH range of 5–11 with high fluoride removal efficiency over 80% of all cases. Furthermore, isotherm data were fitted using Langmuir and Freundlich models, and the adsorption capacities resulted in 44.37 and 91.04 mg/g, at pH 7, for Ce-Ti oxides and Ce-Ti@Fe3O4 nanoparticles, respectively. The physical sorption mechanism was estimated using the Dubinin-Radushkevich model. An anionic exchange process between the OH− group on the surface of the Ce-Ti@Fe3O4 nanomaterial and the F− was involved in the adsorption. Moreover, thermodynamic parameters proved the spontaneous process for the adsorption of fluoride on Ce-Ti@Fe3O4 nanoparticles. The reusability of the material through magnetic recovery was demonstrated for five cycles of adsorption-desorption. Although the nanoparticles suffer slight structure modifications after their reusability, they keep their adsorption capacity. Likewise, the efficiency of the Ce-Ti@Fe3O4 was demonstrated when applied to real water to obtain a residual concentration of F− below the maximum contaminated level, 1.5 mg/L (WHO, 2006).