Defluoridation of drinking water by co-precipitation with apatite

The two-step brushite saturation, apatite precipitation method which has previously been shown to be effective for the partial defluoridation of water containing 10 ppm F has now been tested at lower concentrations. The method also reduced F concentrations in the range 1-5 ppm, but was less efficient at lower F levels. Although co-precipitation as fluorapatite is the intended mechanism here, experiments indicated that F adsorption on the seed material added to the defluoridation effect. When the contribution of co-precipitation was isolated it was found that this mechanism could, on its own, account for a reduction of 2.2-2.6 ppm F in water initially containing 3-5 ppm F. A computer program which determines equilibrium F concentrations when supersaturated solutions are induced to precipitate fluorapatite was used to estimate the maximum possible F removal from water by co-precipitation. Using saturation with brushite as a starting point for precipitation, F reductions similar to those found experimentally were predicted. Computer simulations also suggest that any desired reduction in F concentration may be achieved by adding sufficient Ca and phosphate and/or by raising the initial pH.