Defluoridation technology for drinking water and tea by green synthesized Fe(3)O(4)/Al(2)O(3) nanoparticles coated polyurethane foams for rural communities

Fluoride (F) contaminated ground water poses a serious public health concern to rural population with unaffordable purification technologies. Therefore, development of a cost-effective, portable, environment and user-friendly defluoridation technique is imperative. In the present study, we report on the development of a green and cost-effective method that utilizes Fe(3)O(4) and Al(2)O(3) nanoparticles (NPs) that were synthesized using jojoba defatted meal. These NPs were impregnated on to polyurethane foam (PUF) and made into tea infusion bags. The Al(2)O(3) NPs-PUF displayed a higher water defluoridation capacity of 43.47 mg g(−1) of F as compared to 34.48 mg g(−1) of F with Fe(3)O(4) NPs-PUF. The synthesized Al(2)O(3)-PUF infusion bags removed the F that was under the permissible limit of 1.5 mg L(−1). The sorption experiments were conducted to verify the effect of different parameters such as pH, contact time, size of PUF and initial F concentration. The different properties of adsorbent were characterized using a combination of FESEM, EDX, XRD and FTIR techniques, respectively. The calculated total cost per NPs-PUF pouch developed is as low as US $0.05, which makes the technology most suitable for rural communities. This paper will be beneficial for researchers working toward further improvement in water purification technologies.