ABSTRACT

Fluoride in drinking water is a well-known pollutant throughout the world and like any other pollution the fluoride pollution occurs due to both natural and manmade reasons. Though, a minimum concentration of 0.8–1.0 mg/L 150of fluoride in drinking water helps in the production and maintenance of healthy bones and teeth, consumption of water with a fluoride concentration of more than 1.5 mg/L over a longer period causes fluorosis, and a concentration beyond 3 mg/L may result in neurological problems. In the present work, adsorbents were prepared from leaves of Azadirachta indica (Neem) and Ficus religiosa (Pipal) to remove excess fluoride from water in order to make it safe for human consumption. Several adsorption experiments were conducted using these natural to assess their suitability as adsorbents in treating the fluoride contaminated water. Further, the effect of various controlling parameters like pH, dosage of adsorbent, contact time, and initial concentration on fluoride removal efficiency were studied to determine optimum parameters for maximum removal efficiency. The optimum values of pH, contact time and adsorbent dosage were found to be 2,90 min and 8.0 g/L, respectively, for both the adsorbents and it was also observed that Ficus Religiosa (Pipal) acts as a better adsorbent compared to Azadirachta Indica (Neem).