Clay-based ceramic materials for water de-fluoridation

dc.creatorLeonidas, Wilson
dc.date2021-09-23T07:09:03Z
dc.date2021-09-23T07:09:03Z
dc.date2021-08
dc.date.accessioned2022-10-25T09:24:37Z
dc.date.available2022-10-25T09:24:37Z
dc.descriptionA Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master’s in Materials Science and Engineering of the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology
dc.descriptionLong-term consumption of water with fluoride concentration above the WHO recommended limit of 1.5 mg/g may cause fluorosis. Low-income communities living in fluoride endemic regions are more affected as they cannot afford well-established water de-fluoridation technologies. Currently, clay ceramic materials impregnated with silver colloids have been used to disinfect water disregarding the removal of fluoride. This work investigated improving the de-fluoridation capacity of clay ceramic materials with in-situ generated Ca/Mg phosphate system using locally available carbonate rocks as a source of Ca/Mg. To achieve this, clayCa/Mg phosphate system composite ceramic materials were synthesized from varied ratios of clay (K) to carbonate rock materials (R) (K:R = 0:100, 90∶10, 85∶15, 75∶25 and 100:0), sintered at various temperatures between 500 and 900 . The materials were characterized using XRF, FTIR, AAS, CHNS-O analyzer and X-ray PDF analysis. The three types of carbonate rock materials investigated were identified to be; high-calcium limestone, magnesium-deficient dolomite and near-stoichiometric dolomite. The magnesium-deficient dolomite gave rise to a Ca/Mg phosphate system that exhibited superior de-fluoridation performance. The material improved in de-fluoridation performance with increase sintering temperature from 500 to 700 , possibly due to an increase in the more soluble magnesium-substituted tri-calcium phosphate (β-Mg x Ca 3-x PO 4 ), CaO and MgO (PDF and FTIR). This work has shown that the de-fluorination performance of clay ceramic materials can be improved with a phosphate system synthesized/formed in-situ using carbonate rocks as Ca/Mg source. The method of improving the de-fluoridation performance of clay ceramic materials introduced in this present study has potential applications in the fabrication of water filters with fluoride removal ability.
dc.formatapplication/pdf
dc.identifierhttps://dspace.nm-aist.ac.tz/handle/20.500.12479/1322
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/123456789/95615
dc.languageen
dc.publisherNM-AIST
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
dc.rightshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
dc.subjectResearch Subject Categories::NATURAL SCIENCES
dc.titleClay-based ceramic materials for water de-fluoridation
dc.typeThesis

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