A PROJECT REPORT ON

Defluoridation of Water Using Novel Low-Cost

Biosorbent Developed From Waste Biomass
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the
degree of

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
In

CIVIL ENGINEERING
Submitted by
ADHITHYA KA
AFSANA S NAJEEB
AKHILA SURENDRAN
ASWATHY SABU

Seventh Semester

Department of Civil Engineering

Amal Jyothi College of Engineering
Kanjirappally, Kerala – 686518
MARCH 2020

Affiliated to APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University

 DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
AMAL JYOTHI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
KANJIRAPPALLY

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project report titled “Defluoridation of Water Using Novel
Low-Cost Biosorbent Developed From Waste Biomass” submitted by Adhithya KA,
Afsana S Najeeb, Akhila Surendran, Aswathy Sabu to Department of Civil
Engineering, Amal Jyothi College of Engineering, Kanjirappally, as partial fulfilment
for the award of degree B-Tech in Civil Engineering is a bonafide work undertaken
under my supervision.

Guide HOD
Dr. Aju Mathew George Dr. Mini Mathew
Asst. Professor
Date: 26/03/2020
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, we thank the almighty GOD for his blessings, strength and hope to
carry out and complete this seminar.

We are thankful to the management of Amal Jyothi College of Engineering

Kanjirappally, for providing all facilities in completing the project successfully.

We are grateful to Rev Fr. Mathew Paikatt Manager, AJCE, for his constant
encouragement and support for this project.

We wish to express our gratitude to Dr Z.V. Lakaparambil, Principal, AJCE, for his
valuable guidance and inspiration in all the works of this project.

We also express our thanks to HOD Dr. Mini Mathew, Head of Civil Department for
her tenacious support during the project.

We thank Asst. Prof. Mrs. Jiss Abraham class in charge and co-investigator, for her
constant encouragement during the project.

We also thank Asst. Prof. Dr. Aju Mathew George, our project guide for his sterling
effort and valuable guidance throughout this project.

We are thankful to our parents and friends, who have contributed directly or
indirectly for the successful completion of this venture.

The project is funded for Rs 10000 by Amal Jyothi Scholar’s Community For Inspiring
Innovation, 13th Innovation Ideas Unleashed (I²U). We would like to thank for the
support received.

ADHITHYA KA
AFSANA S NAJEEB
AKHILA SURENDRAN
ASWATHY SABU

i
 ABSTRACT

Water containing high fluoride is serious concern and is usually unusable for drinking
and even cooking purpose to evade health tribulations. Removal of fluoride from
contaminated drinking water is inevitable, to avoid ingestion of excess fluoride as an
anticipatory measure, until alternative water sources with low fluoride content is
available. The reported tolerance limit of fluoride concentration in drinking water is 1.5
mg/L. Maintaining fluoride concentrations of 1 mg/L in the dietary intake can prevent
mainly skeletal and dental problems. Therefore, capturing excessive fluoride from
water using a cost effective and eco-friendly alternatives assume great importance. For
this reason, many researchers emphasized on finding and identifying an inexpensive,
and efficient alternative adsorbent This gave rise to exploring a possibility of
development of the adsorbents especially from waste biomass or agricultural waste
residue materials. In this work suitable biowastes that are abundantly available in most
tropical climates are used for preparation of bio adsorbents.

ii
 CONTENTS

Sl. No Title Page No

Acknowledgement i
Abstract ii
List of Tables iv
List of Figures v
1. Introduction 1
2. Literature review 2
3. Objective 6
4. Methodology 6
5. Tests to be Conducted 7
6. Apparatus 7
7. Reagents 7
8. Procedure 8
9. Batch studies
9.1 pH 10
9.2 Adsorbent Dosage 10
9.3 Contact time 10
9.4 Initial Concentration 11
10. Results and Discussions
10.1 Effect of pH 11
10.2 Effect of adsorbent dosage 12
10.3 Effect of contact time 13
10.4 Effect of initial concentration 14
11. References 16

iii
 LIST OF TABLES

Sl. No Title Page No.

Table 1: Calibration Chart 10

Table 2: Effect of pH 11

Table 3: Effect of adsorbent dosage 12

Table 4: Effect of contact time 13

Table 5: Effect of initial concentration 14

iv
 LIST OF FIGURES

Sl. No Title Page No.

Fig. 1: Sun dried Almond leaves 8

Fig. 2: Oven dried Almond leaves 8

Fig. 3: Grinded Almond leaves 8

Fig. 4: Chemical Treatment 8

Fig. 5: Chemically Treated Almond leaves Powder 9

Fig. 6: Calibration Curve 10

Fig. 7: Effect of pH 12

Fig. 8: Effect of adsorbent dosage 13

Fig. 9: Effect of contact time 14

Fig.10: Effect of initial concentration 15