Defluoridation of Water at High pH with Use of Brushite, Calcium Hydroxide, and Bone Char

The aim of this study was to improve the efficiency of the bone-char method of water defluoridation by pre-treating the water with brushite and calcium hydroxide. Various amounts of brushite, calcium hydroxide, and bone char were suspended batchwise in 100 mL of distilled water containing 0.53 mmol/L fluoride for 24 h under gentle agitation. At suitable intervals, pH and the concentrations of fluoride, calcium, and phosphate in the water were determined and, when possible, the degrees of saturation with respect to brushite, hydroxyapatite, and fluorapatite calculated. Bone char used alone took up fluoride slowly and inefficiently. The addition of brushite and calcium hydroxide resulted in high concentrations of calcium and phosphate, making the solutions highly supersaturated with respect to fluorapatite, and led to a 20-fold increase in fluoride removal from the water. The combined use of all three salts left low concentrations of phosphate in solution and optimized the fluoride uptake capacity. Repeated...