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Effective removal of fluoride and phosphate pollution using mixtures of dicalcium phosphate dihydrate (DCPD) and Tunisian reservoir sediment containing calcium carbonate

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Euro-Mediterranean Journal for Environmental Integration Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The removal of fluoride from environmental surface water and groundwater is an important environmental issue in Tunisia. Notably, Tunisia also faces a shortfall in reservoir capacity due to the buildup of sediment containing calcium carbonate. Dicalcium phosphate dihydrate (DCPD, CaHPO4·2H2O) reacts effectively with fluoride to form stable fluorapatite (FAp, Ca10(PO4)6F2), and the addition of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) effectively inhibits the release of phosphate generated during this reaction. In this study, we tested the potential for fluoride removal using a mixture of DCPD and Tunisian reservoir sediment. The release of phosphate from the reaction of DCPD with fluoride was successfully inhibited using the sediment. The application of the DCPD–sediment mixture led to a high rate of fluoride removal (15–19 mg/g), such that the resulting water met the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended limit for fluoride in water (1.5 mg/L). This removal rate is five to ten times those achieved with conventional fluoride adsorbents such as bone char. Based on these results, the utilization of Tunisian reservoir sediment seems to be an effective solution for removing fluoride from aqueous environments.

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Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate the support of Nitta Gelatin Inc. (Osaka, Japan) in terms of providing DCPD samples. We thank Guy Evans, PhD, from Edanz Group (http://www.edanzediting.com/ac) for editing a draft of this manuscript, and Mr. Fuyu Ninomiya, National Institute of Technology, Toyama College for supporting the experiments described in this article.

Funding

This research was partially funded by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) (grant number 17K00631) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Toyama College, 13 Hongo-machi, Toyama, 939-8630, Japan

    Masamoto Tafu, Natsumi Sasakawa, Harvin Satia Murthy, Saori Takamatsu & Atsushi Manaka

  2. Faculty of Engineering, University of Miyazaki, 1-1 Gakuen Kibanadai-nishi, Miyazaki, 889-2192, Japan

    Mitsuteru Irie

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Toyama College, 13 Hongo-machi, Toyama, 939-8630, Japan

    Takeshi Toshima

Authors
  1. Masamoto Tafu
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  2. Natsumi Sasakawa
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  3. Harvin Satia Murthy
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  4. Saori Takamatsu
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  5. Atsushi Manaka
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  6. Mitsuteru Irie
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  7. Takeshi Toshima
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Correspondence to Masamoto Tafu.

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All of the authors have declared no conflicts of interest.

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Communicated by Chedly Tizaoui, Associate Editor.

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Tafu, M., Sasakawa, N., Murthy, H.S. et al. Effective removal of fluoride and phosphate pollution using mixtures of dicalcium phosphate dihydrate (DCPD) and Tunisian reservoir sediment containing calcium carbonate. Euro-Mediterr J Environ Integr 5, 1 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41207-019-0135-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41207-019-0135-8

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