Water shortage is a global concern of growing population. Worldwide, over 7% of total population lacks access to clean drinking water due to high fluoride contamination. In this study, we demonstrate a new way to remove high concentration fluoride ions from water using renewable and sustainable nanocellulose materials. In specific, we have developed carboxycellulose nanofibers (NOCNF) from untreated (raw) jute biomass using a simple and cost-effective nitro-oxidation approach. The resulting NOCNF, having an average width of 4.6 nm and an average length of 1000 nm, possessed 0.42 mmol/g carboxylate content. These nanofibers were further modified into cationic substrate in the form of Al+3(Cell-COO-)3 scaffold, which can remove negatively charged fluoride ions from water. The mechanism of removal involved stronger electrostatic interactions between Al+3 and F- ions than Al+3 and NOCNF. Interestingly, the Al+3(Cell-COO-)3 composite exhibited as high as ∼148 and ∼42 mg/g fluoride uptake efficiency at pH 4 and 7, respectively. Furthermore, NOCNF and Al+3(Cell-COO-)3 composite was characterized by NMR, WAXD, FTIR, SEM, TEM, BET, AFM, TGA, XPS, elementals analysis and Ion chromatography (fluoride ion detection) techniques. This study demonstrated a viable, economic and sustainable solution for removal of fluoride impurities from water, without risk of cross contaminations.

Efficient removal of hazardous fluoride from drinking water by using bionanomaterial derived from nitro-oxidized carboxynanocellulose

2019 Fall National Meeting

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