Synthesis, Characterisation of Mixed Metal Oxide Based Inorganic Materials and It’s Application Towards the Removal of Fluoride and Heavy Metals From Contaminated Water

Abstract

Among all water contaminants, fluoride and copper contamination in groundwater as a result of natural and anthropogenic activities has been identified as one of the biggest issues worldwide, posing a serious threat to human health. Mixed metal oxides-based adsorbents, particularly Zr(IV), La(III), Ce(IV), and others, have sparked a lot of attention in recent years due to their high selectivity and affinity for fluoride and copper. Therefore a binary [Cr(III)- Zr(IV)] (CZ) or a ternary mixed metal oxide [Ce(IV)-Zr(IV)-La(III)] (CZL) inorganic adsorbent material and efficiently apply for F - and Cu(II) adsorption from aqueous phases. Further surface modification CZ was performed with chitosan and -cyclodextrin (CB@CZ) for further application to remove Cu(II). The adsorbent CZ's effectiveness was also exploited for practical applications, such as expanding the study's potential applicability for removing F - ions from laboratory and real field contaminated water. The entire work is split into different chapters. The first chapter offers a review of the literature as well as a background analysis of the project. The presence of harmful pollutants such as fluoride and other heavy metal ions in drinking water, as well as their allowed limits, has been extensively discussed. A comparison analysis based on the adsorption capabilities of adsorbents towards various adsorbates, particularly F - and Cu(II), has also been discussed. The description of employed chemicals, solution preparations, materials, adsorbent synthesis, instrumental details (FESEM, TEM, p-XRD, FT-IR, etc.), batch study experimental details, and mathematical model equations that were used to analyze the experimentally obtained data are all included in Chapter 2. The characterization of the binary mixed metal oxide based adsorbent [Cr(III)-Zr(IV)] (CZ) used to remove F - from artificially and naturally contaminated water is covered in Chapter 3. For further use in the removal of heavy metals, particularly Cu(II), surface modification of CZ using chitosan and -cyclodextrin (CB@CZ) is described in Chapter 4. The characterization of the ternary mixed metal oxide [Ce(IV)- Zr(IV)-La(III)] (CZL) and its applications to the removal of F - and Cu(II) from wastewater are both covered in Chapter 5. In Chapter 6, the findings are compiled in a table along with a broad conclusion on the work's future potential.