aqueous phase removal of fluoride as fluorosis agent using montmorillonite clay as natural nanoadsorbent

A natural nanomaterial, montmorillonite clay, was collected, purified, and then applied in the removal of fluoride. to obtain the activated montmorillonite clay, 150 g of the grounded montmorillonite clay was weighed and refluxed in 500 ml of 1m hcl at 120 °c for one hour thirty minutes. fluoride was determined with the aid of spadns reagent (2-parasulfophenylazo)-1,8-dihydroxy-3,6-naphthalene disulfanate) using uv/visible spectrophotometer (model jenway 6300) at the wavelength of 570 nm. adsorption parameters studied were adsorbent dose, contact time, and ph effect. fluoride was removed with a maximum percentage of 83.5% at optimum ph of 2 with contact time of 50 minutes and adsorbent dose of 2.0 g as well as temperature of 25°c. two most used kinetic models were employed in this research, pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order. the experimental data were found to follow pseudosecond kinetic than pseudo-first order. thus, montmorillonite clay as a natural nanoadsorbent could be used to remove fluoride which could help in the prevention of dental fluorosis.