A Novel Bio-Waste Incorporated Alginate Sorbent for De-Fluoridation of Water

Abstract

Water is one of the most abundant and crucial components of our life system, but today most of the countries have scarcity of clean water. Water pollution is one of the serious problems in India. Poor drinking water quality contributes to 80% of the diseases in the world [WHO 1984] and 65% of endemic fluorosis in the world is a result of fluoride contamination in drinking water [Felsenfeld, Robert 1991, WHO 2002.Many water sources are unsafe for human consumption as well as for other activities, such as irrigation and industrial needs. Potable water is contaminated at many places by various pollutants, such as fluorides, nitrates, iron etc.Fluoride is widely distributed in soil, water, air, vegetation, agricultural products and sea foods. Ground water sources may contain excess fluoride where minerals like cryolites, biotites and fluoroapatite are present. This is mainly due to the dissolution of fluoride from fluoride bear-