La（III）-loaded bentonite/chitosan beads for defluoridation from aqueous solution

Developing low-cost and effective materials for excess fluoride removal is important for providing safe water. A novel ad- sorbent, La（IlI）-loaded bentonite/chitosan beads （La-BCB） was prepared for defluoridation from aqueous solution. The effects of various parameters such as dosage of La（III）, pH, temperature, contact time, initial fluoride concentration and presence of co-existing anions were investigated to examine the defluoridation behavior. The maximum defluoridation capacity of La-BCB was 2.87 mg/g at pH 5, 30 ℃. Scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, energy dispersive spectroscopy （EDX） and Fourier transform infrared spectros- copy （FTIR） were employed to analyze the characteristics of La-BCB. The equilibrium fluoride adsorption data fitted well with both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. The RL value revealed that the defluoridation process using La-BCB was favorable. The adsorption kinetics followed pseudo-second order kinetic as well as particle and intraparticle diffusion models. The presence of car- bonate and bicarbonate reduced defluoridation capacity of La-BCB while sulphate, nitrate and chloride showed slight effect. The ex- hausted La-BCB was regenerated using sodium hydroxide with only 17% loss. The reasonable defluoridation mechanism could be interpreted as adsorption and ion exchange.