Defluoridation of Water by Adsorption Phenomenon of the Powdered Ficus Religiosa in Batch and Continuous Mode

Prasanna P. Beedkar, Anand D. Kulkarni, Kavita S. Kulkarni

Abstract: Ficus religiosa leaves are considered to be one of the most efficient and economic adsorbents used for the removal of fluorides from water because of their ready availability. In the present work, the batch experiment was optimised for the contact time, pH and dose of adsorbent. The experiments were conducted for 5- 30 mg/l initial fluoride ion concentration in water. It was thus observed that the ficus religiosa leaf gives the 70 % removal of efficiency at 2 pH, contact time for 120 min and with the dose of 2.5 g/100 m. The continuous column experimentation gives the breakthrough curve result for experiment carried out for 5 mg/l initial fluoride ion concentration at 48ml/min flow rate range. Overall, the results could be efficiently used for defluoridation of drinking water.

Keywords: Fluoride, Ficus religiosa Leaf, Langmuir Isotherm, Freundlich Isotherm