Novel reusable sulfate-type zirconium alginate ion-exchanger for fluoride removal

摘要

It is still a challenge to eliminate efficiently fluoride ion from groundwater,especially to design and synthesis an adsorbent possessing high adsorption capacity,recyclability and wide pH application conditions.Herein we present millimeter-sized sulfate-type zirconium alginate hydrogel beads with 3D network structure(AHB@Zr-SO^(2−)_(4))that exhibited a maximum adsorption capacity of 101.3 mg/g with wide pH applicability(pH 3−9).This material have~2.5 times higher adsorption capacity than that of pure zirconium alginate hydrogel beads(AHB@Zr)and it was ascribed to ion exchange between SO^(2−)_(4)and F−on the surface of AHB@Zr-SO^(2−)_(4),which was verified via ion chromatography measurement coupled with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS)and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer(FTIR Spectrometer)analysis.Density functional theory(DFT)calculations indicated that the ion exchange process between SO^(2−)_(4)and F−in AHB@Zr-SO^(2−)_(4)was energetically favorable than OH^(−)and F^(−)in AHB@Zr.In addition,310 bed volumes(BV)of effluent was realized via column adsorption of groundwater containing fluoride on AHB@Zr-SO^(2−)_(4)and indicated that it is a promising candidate for mitigating the problem of fluoride-containing groundwater.