REMOVAL OF FLUORIDE FROM WASTE WATER OF ALUMINIUM SMELTER BY ALUMINIUM ION LOADED ION EXCHANGE RESIN

B.K.Padhi R&D Laboratory, Alumina Refinery, National Aluminium Company Limited, DAMANJODI-763008 ORISSA, INDIA.
Email:bkpadhi815@gmail.com

A.K.Sharma National Aluminium Company Limited NALCO BHAVAN BHUBANESWAR 751013 ORISSA, INDIA.

Abstract Strong Acid Cation resin has sulphonic acid functional group (H+ form) possesses appreciable defluoridation capacity and it has been enhanced by chemical modification into Al3+ form by loading of Aluminium ions in H+ form of resin. The defluoridation Al3+ forms was found to be 480 mg F/kg, at 15 mg/L initial fluoride concentration. The nature and morphology of sorbents are characterized using XRD, FTIR and SEM analysis. The fluoride sorption was explained using the Freundlich, Langmuir and RedlichPeterson isotherms models. The calculated thermodynamic parameters such as G, H, S and sticking probability (S*) explains the nature of sorption. Comparison was also made by the elution capacity of this resin in order to select a cost effective material. A Defluoridation Plant is in service at aluminium smelter of National Aluminium Company to treatment the waste water for removing Fluoride and reutilise the water to minimise the water loss. Keywords: Cation resin; Modification; Defluoridation; Adsorption; Complexation 1. Introduction Fluoride pollution of water can occur due to smelting activity of alumina with cryolite to production of aluminium or geochemical processes [1]. The removal of fluoride from water is one of the most important issues due to the effect on human health and environment. Fluoride in drinking water may be beneficial or detrimental depending on its concentration [2]. One such preventive measure is defluoridation of water. Available techniques for the removal of fluoride belong to the following three major categories viz., adsorption, chemical precipitation and ion exchange. Among the methods, adsorption technology is economical and efficient method for producing high quality of water. In recent years, a variety of adsorbents like metal loaded adsorbents [1], activated alumina [3], chitosan beads [4], composites [5], activated carbon [6], clay [7], hydroxyapatite [8], etc., have been identified as the promising defluoridating agents. Though defluoridation of the material is an important criterion, it is also necessary to consider the other factors like flow rate, acceptability by the users, ease of operation, etc., while designing the column for the success of technology. In the present study a commercial cation exchanger with sulphonic acid group namely CSA-9 of Doshion ltd, India which removes fluoride by means of adsorption have been modified into Al3+ forms in order to enhance the defluoridation. The aluminium metal ions exchanged with the sulphonate group of resin and have shown promising results. It has been reported that the adsorption capacity of fluoride on aluminium impregnated carbon is 35 times higher than that of plain activated carbon. The original resin which is in H+ form converted to Al forms of resins for the defluoridation capacity under various equilibrating conditions like contact time, initial fluoride concentrations, pH, temperature. The fluoride removal by these resins was explained using
3+

equilibrium. Best regenerator was also suggested for the continuous use of these sorbents. These fundamental data were useful in selecting the most suitable material for fluoride removal from the waste water of Aluminium smelter plant and reutilisation. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Materials A cation resin with sulphonic acid group (H+ form) was collected from Doshion Ltd., Ahamedabad, India. This resin having H+ as an ion exchange resin was washed with distilled water and dried at oven at 50 C and has been modified into Al3+ forms as follows. The Al3+ form of resin was prepared by treating 5% (w/v) Al2(SO4)3 for 24 h, then the resin was washed with distilled water till it attains neutral pH and dried at 50 C for 12 h. The dried resin samples were used for the sorption studies. All other chemicals employed were of analytical reagent grade and were used without purification. Double distilled water was used for preparing all the solutions. For the field study, fluoridecontaining water was collected from waste water pond of aluminium smelter plant. 2.2. Sorption experiments Defluoridation experiments were carried out by batch equilibration method in duplicate. In a typical case, 1 g of the sorbent was added to 50 ml of NaF solution of initial concentration 10 mg/L. The contents were shaken thoroughly using a constant temperature bath with a shaker. The solution was then filtered and the residual fluoride concentration was measured. Adsorption studies were carried out in a temperature controlled water bath shaker. The effect of initial fluoride concentration with different temperatures at 20 to 40oC on sorption rate was studied at the following initial fluoride concentrations viz., 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 mg/L by keeping the mass of

sorbent as 1 g and volume of fluoride solution as 50 ml at pH 7. 2.3. Analysis The concentration of fluoride was measured using expandable ion analyzer EA 940 with the fluoride ion selective electrode BN 9609 (Orion, USA). The pH measurements were done with the same instrument with pH electrode. All other water quality parameters were analyzed by using standard methods [9]. The surface morphology of the resins was visualized by SEM with LEO model. The SEM enables the direct observation of the surface microstructures of the Al3+ loaded fresh and fluoride-sorbed resins. FTIR spectra of the resins were recorded with BRUKER model by mixing resin with KBr. The results of FTIR were used to confirm the functional groups present in the resins. 3. Results and discussion 3.1. Characterization of sorbents The FTIR spectra (Fig. 1) of cationic resin with sulphonic acid functional group in the form of Al3+ show different spectral bands. The FTIR spectral data of the fresh Al3+ form and fluoride-sorbed Al3+ form is shown where the stretching frequency at 1121 and 1045 cm-1 corresponds to the presence of SO Al stretching and the stretching frequency at 775 cm-1 indicates the presence of Al O stretching in Al3+ form. The difference in the SO stretching frequencies of Al3+ form also confirms their change during modification. This is also further confirmed by pHzpc values in which the structural changes were indicated by the shifting of pHzpc values for Al3+ form it is 6.7.

Fig. 2 (a). SEM micrographs of H+ form

Fig. 2 (b). SEM micrographs of Al3+ form

Fig. 2 (c). SEM micrographs of fluoride-sorbed Al3+ form. X-ray Diffraction studies of Al3+ adsorbed cation resin shows (Fig. 3 B) the aluminium ions are present as amorphous in nature. From the diffraction pattern there is no sharp peak was found but the peak at 2 value of 7.5 and 17.5 reveals that the aluminium ions were exchanged with the hydrogen ion of resin. The presence of aluminium ion was analysed after treating the resin with 2% H2SO4. It was found that 16% of aluminium ions are adsorbed by the resin. The XRD of fluoride exchanged resin shows (Fig. 3 A) there were some developed peaks at 2 value of 7.5, 17.5, 17.8, 28.1, 37.6 and 47.1 are due to the presence of aluminium hydroxy fluoride. When the fluoride adsorbed resins were regenerated with 5% (w/v) Al2(SO4)3 solution the similar pattern of XRD was found as shown in Fig. 3.

Fig.1. FTIR spectra of Al3+ form resin and Fluoride treated Al3+ resin SEM images of the resins before and after Aluminium ion sorption of H+ form and Al3+ form are shown in Fig. 2a and b, respectively. The SEM pictures of fluoride-sorbed Al3+ form is shown in Fig. 2c. The alteration of the surface morphology in the fluoridesorbed resins indicates the sorption of fluoride occurs onto the sorbents.

and hence it is decided that the pH has no significant role. Similar type of results was observed when the modified chitosan beads were used as the sorbent for defluoridation [4]. For further experiments neutral pH was maintained for sorption studies.

3.5
Fluoride Uptake (mg/g)

3 2.5 2 1.5

Fig. 3. XRD of Al3+ form resin and Fluoride adsorbed Al3+ form resin 3.2. Effect of contact time The effect of fluoride exchange capacity of sorbents with contact time was studied using 10 mg/L as initial fluoride concentration with neutral pH at room temperature to find out a minimum time of contact needed to attain maximum fluoride exchange capacity. The sorption of fluoride has been investigated as a function of time in the range of 550 min. Fig. 4 shows the variation of fluoride exchange capacity with time. It is evident that the fluoride exchange capacity of all the sorbents increases sharply with increasing time and reach saturation after 40 min in the case of Al3+ forms. Therefore, Al3+ forms were found to be appropriate for maximum adsorption and were used in all subsequent measurements.
0.16
Fluoride Removal Capacity (mg F -/g)

1.5

3.5 pH

5.5

7.5

Fig. 5. Effect of pH for Fluoride uptake by Al3+ form resin. 3.4. Influence of the sorbate concentration The effect of fluoride exchange capacity on different initial fluoride concentrations viz., 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 mg/L with neutral pH at 30 oC were studied and are shown in Fig. 6. The fluoride exchange capacity of the sorbents increases with increase in the initial fluoride concentration. It is evident from Fig. 5 that the modified forms of resins have higher fluoride exchange capacity. In most of the time the fluoride level in drain water found to have a maximum of 10 mg F(/L. Hence, for further studies the initial concentration of fluoride was fixed as 10 mg/L.
1

0.14 0.12 0.1 0.08 0.06 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60

Time (min) Al 3+ form

Fluoride Removal capacity (mg F /g)

0.8

0.6

Al3+ form

0.4

0.2

Fig. 4. Effect of contact time for Fluoride uptake by Al3+ form resin. 3.3. Influence of pH The pH of the medium is an important variable for the adsorption of fluoride on the adsorbents [10]. The effect of pH on fluoride adsorption by the sorbents was studied at five different pH levels viz., 3 to 8 by keeping other parameters like contact time, dosage and initial fluoride concentration as constant at 30 oC. Various pH of the working solution were controlled by adding HCl/NaOH solution. Fig. 5 explains the variation of fluoride exchange capacity as a function of pH and it is observed that the fluoride exchange capacity of all the resins studied is not influenced by the pH of the medium

0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Fluoride concentration (mg/L)

Fig. 6. Effect of concentration on removal of Fluoride by Al3+ form resin. 3.5. Effect of temperature Sorption studies were carried out at different temperatures 20 to 40 oC with initial fluoride concentration 10 mg/L by keeping all other factors as constant. At higher temperature the mobility of fluoride ions increased so that the complex formation increased.

The effect of temperature for Al3+ form is shown in Fig.7. It has been observed that the fluoride exchange capacity of Al3+ form is influenced by the temperature due to the complex formation with Al3+ ions there by resultant in to higher removal of fluoride occurs. This indicates that temperature is dependent on fluoride removal.
3.9

3.6.2. Langmuir isotherm Langmuir [32] isotherm represented by the equation: Ce/Qc = 1/Qob + Ce/Qo model can be

(2)

Fluoride Uptake (mg/g)

3.7 3.5 3.3 3.1 2.9 2.7 2.5 15 20 25 30 35

o

40

45

Temperature ( C)

where Qo is the amount of adsorbate at complete monolayer coverage (mg/g), which gives the maximum sorption capacity of sorbent and b (mg/L) is the Langmuir isotherm constant that relates to the energy of adsorption were calculated from the slope and intercept of the plot Ce/Qe vs. Ce (Fig. 9). The value of b increases with increasing temperature confirms that fluoride sorption takes place more readily with increase in temperature. Langmuir model effectively described the sorption data with r2 values >0.99. In order to find out the feasibility of the isotherm, the essential characteristics of the Langmuir isotherm can be expressed in terms of a dimensionless constant separation factor or equilibrium parameter, RL [12] RL= 1/1+bCo (3)

Fig. 7. Effect of temperature on the fluoride removal by Al3+ form resin. 3.6. Sorption isotherms To quantify the sorption capacity of the resins studied for the removal of fluoride, three isotherms namely Freundlich, Langmuir and RedlichPeterson isotherms have been adopted. 3.6.1. Freundlich isotherm The linear form of Freundlich [11] isotherm is represented by the equation, Log Qe = log kf + (1/n) log Ce (1) Where,Qe is the amount of fluoride adsorbed per unit weight of the sorbent (mg/g), Ce is the equilibrium concentration of fluoride in solution (mg/L), kf is a measure of adsorption capacity and 1/n is the adsorption intensity. The plot of log Qe vs. log Ce (Fig. 8 ) is linear which indicates the applicability of Freundlich isotherm. The constants kf and 1/n of Freundlich isotherm for the Al3+ type of sorbent is given in Table 1. Adsorption process is favourable when the value of 1/n lies between 0.1 and 1, the value of n lies between 1 and 10. This condition is obeyed by all the types of resins suggesting fluoride gets sorbed by these resins. The values of kf were found to be almost constant in all the temperatures studied for the resins.
1.2 1.1 1

where b is the Langmuir isotherm constant and Co is the initial concentration of fluoride (mg/L). The RL values between 0 and 1 indicate favourable adsorption for all temperatures studied (cf. Table 1).

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 10 20 Ce 30 40 50

Fig. 9. Langmuir adsorption isotherm for fluoride removal by Al3+ form resin. 3.6.3. Rate Constant The specific rate constant kf for the adsorption of fluoride ion on the resins was determined by Lagergan equation [17]. Log (qe-q)= Log qe (kf/2.303) t (4)

log Qe

0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 log Ce

Where qe and q (mg/g) are amounts of fluoride ion adsorbed at equilibrium and time t, respectively. The straight line plot (Fig. 10) of Log (qe-q) vs t at 30 oC indicated the validity of Lagergan equation for the present system and explained that the process followed first order kinetics. The values of kf were calculated from the slope of the plot and were 0.05191/min.

Fig. 8. Freundlich adsorption isotherm for fluoride removal by Al3+ form resin.

Ce/Qe

0.6 0.5

Fig. 11. Mechanism of fluoride removal by the Al3+ form of cationic adsorbents. 3.9. Column operation

Log (qe-q)

0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 Time (min) 60 70

The performance of Al3+ cation resin in continuous column operation was studied by conducting loading runs using 250 ml bed volume of resin and influent having 15 mg/l fluoride ion concentration. The capacity of resin for 1 mg/l leakage at different influent flow rates such as 5 B.V./h, 10 B.V./h and 15 B.V./h were determined. As the flow rate increased the adsorption rate decreased because of lesser contact time with resin. Al3+ form of resins used in our study are also tested with field sample taken from different drains of Aluminium smelter plant area. The results of these trials are presented in Table 1. It is evident from the result that all the sorbents can be effectively employed for removing the fluoride. There is no significant change in the levels of other water quality parameters. In fact, the levels of most of the water quality parameters have been reduced by these resins, in addition to fluoride. The modified forms of resins give better results than H+ form. Table 1. Field trial results of the sorbents. Water quality parameter F- (mg/L) pH Cl- (mg/L) Total hardness (mg/L) Total Dissolve solids (mg/L) Na+ (mg/L) Before treatment 15.2 7.2 56.8 125.0 523 54.2 After treatment with Al3+ resin 0.56 6.8 55.2 120.0 486 53.5

Fig. 10. Validity of Lagergan equation for fluoride removal by Al3+ form resin 3.7. Thermodynamic treatment of the sorption process Thermodynamic parameters associated with the adsorption viz., standard free energy change (G), standard enthalpy change (H), standard entropy change (S) and sticking probability (S*) were calculated using Khan and Singh method, vant Hoff equation and Horsfall and Spiff method [12], [13] and [14]. The negative values of G confirm the feasibility of the process and the spontaneous nature of sorption with a high preference for fluoride sorption onto resins. The positive value of H indicates the reaction is endothermic in nature. The positive value of S which is a measure of randomness at the solid/liquid interface during fluoride sorption indicates the adsorption process is irreversible and stable. The values of S* for all the forms are very close to zero indicating that the nature of adsorption is electrostatic attraction in which Al3+ forms it is ionic. 3.8. Mechanism of fluoride removal by the sorbents The fluoride removal capacity of these sorbents may be controlled by adsorption mechanism rather than ion exchange as they are cationic resins. When H+ form is in contact with Al3+ solutions, the respective metal ions gets exchanged for H+ ion by ion exchange mechanism. The metal ions in the matrix will attract fluoride by means of electrostatic adsorption and strong Lewis acid base interaction [15] and [16]. All the sorbents selectively retains fluoride as it is the hardest Lewis base and the ions loaded into the resin are hard Lewis acids. The possible mechanism of fluoride removal by Al3+ forms is shown in Fig. 11. The type of electrostatic adsorption in Al3+ forms it is ionic. Among the sorbents, Al3+ form possesses slightly higher fluoride exchange capacity than the other two forms since it removes fluoride by complexation mechanism also, in addition to electrostatic adsorption because it is a strong Lewis acid, possesses higher valency and chelating efficiency.

3.10. Regeneration of exhausted sorbents The exhausted resins were eluted using eluents viz., HCl, H2SO4, NaOH and Al2(SO4)3 5% (wt/v). Mineral acids elute fluoride as HF and NaOH as NaF. All the regeneration experiments were carried out at room temperature. The elution capacities of these forms of resins were studied using 0.1 M HCl, 0.1 M H2SO4 and 0.1 M NaOH. Out of these four eluents, Al2(SO4)3 5% (wt/v) has been identified as the best eluent as it has 99% elution capacity while HCl, H2SO4 and NaOH have 90%, 80% and 75% elution capacities, respectively. After regeneration, the sorbents can be reused for fluoride removal. After regeneration of fluoride exhausted Al3+ form of resin the effluents can be reutilised by adjusting the concentration of Al2(SO4)3 to 5% (wt/v) by adding required Al2(SO4)3 and utilised for regeneration of fluoride removal resin. 4. Conclusions In general all the forms of resins possess reasonably good defluoridation efficiency. The fluoride exchange capacity of these sorbents is independent of pH of the medium and unaltered in the presence of co-anions present in the medium. Al3+ form has higher fluoride exchange capacity among the sorbents studied. The

mechanism of fluoride removal by the sorbents is mainly controlled by chemisorption. The sorption process follows Freundlich, Langmuir and RedlichPeterson isotherms. The values of thermodynamic parameters indicate that the fluoride removal is spontaneous and endothermic in nature. The rate of the reaction of all the forms is controlled by first-order and particle diffusion kinetic models. Field trial results indicate that these sorbents can be effectively used to remove the fluoride from water. Al2(SO4)3 5% (wt/v) has been identified as the best eluent for the regeneration of the sorbents. This type of result could definitely throw more light in selecting best sorbent for fluoride removal for other Aluminium smelters. Acknowledgements The authors are grateful to the management of NALCO for kind permission to publish the paper and also implementations of process know how for plant operation to utilise the waste water which is free from Fluoride ions. References [1] L. Fang, K.N. Ghimire, M. Kuriyama, K. Inoue, K. Makino, Removal of fluoride using some lanthanum(III)loaded adsorbents with different functional groupsand polymer matrices, J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol. 78 (2003) 10381047. [2] WHO,WHOGuidelines for DrinkingWater Quality, vol. 1,World Health Organisation,Geneva, 1993, pp. 45 46. [3] S. Meenakshi, Studies on Defluoridation of Water with a Few Adsorbents and Development of an Indigenous Defluoridation Unit for Domestic Use, Ph.D.Thesis, Gandhigram, Tamil Nadu, India, 1992. [4] N. Viswanathan, C. Sairam Sundaram, S. Meenakshi, Removal of fluoride from aqueous solution using protonated chitosan beads, J. Hazard. Mater. 169 (2009) 423430. [5] C. Sairam Sundaram,N. Viswanathan, S. Meenakshi,Uptake of fluoride by nanohydroxyapatite/chitosan, a bioinorganic composite, Bioresource Technol. 99 (2008) 82268230.

[6] S. Meenakshi, C. Sairam Sundaram, R. Sukumar, Enhanced fluoride sorption by mechanochemically activated kaolinites, J. Hazard. Mater. 153 (2008) 164 172. [7] C. Sairam Sundaram, N. Viswanathan, S. Meenakshi, Defluoridation chemistry of synthetic hydroxyapatite at nano scale: equilibrium and kinetic studies, J. Hazard. Mater. 155 (2008) 206215. [8] APHA, StandardMethods for the Examination ofWater andWasteWater,American Public Health Association,Washington, DC, 2005. [9] S. Meenakshi, Anitha Pius, G. Karthikeyan, B.V. Appa Rao, The pH dependence of efficiency of activated alumina in defluoridation of water, Indian J. Environ.Prot. 11 (1991) 511513. [10] H.M.F. Freundlich, Uber die adsorption in lsungen, Z. Phys. Chem. 57A (1906) 385470. [11] T.W. Weber, R.K. Chakravorti, Pore and solid diffusion models for fixed bed adsorbers, J. Am. Inst. Chem. Eng. 20 (1974) 228238. [12] S. Meeenakshi, N. Viswanathan, Identification of selective ion exchange resin for fluoride sorption, J. Colloid Interf. Sci. 308 (2007) 438450. [13] A.A. Khan, R.P. Singh, Adsorption thermodynamics of carbofuran on Sn(IV) arsenosilicate in H+, Na+ and Ca2+ forms, Colloids Surf. 24 (1987) 3342. [14] M. Horsfall, A.I. Spiff, Effects of temperature on the sorption of Pb2+ and Cd2+ from aqueous solution by caladium bicolor (wild cocoyam) biomass, Electron.J. Biotechnol. 8 (2005) 162169. [15] F. Helfferich, Ion Exchange, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1962. [16] A. Dabrowski, Z. Hubicki, P. Podkoscielny, E. Robens, Selective removal of the heavy metal ions from waters and industrial waste waters by ion-exchange method, Chemosphere 56 (2004) 91106. [17] Y.C.Sharma, G.S.Gupta,G.Prasad, D.C.Rupaniwar, Water,Air,Soil Pollut. (1990) 49,69.