Plasma modification of the anion-exchange membrane and its influence on fluoride removal from water

Removal of extra fluoride ion in drinking water is important for the human health. Fluoride ion removal from aqueous solution is studied with plasma modified and pristine AFX anion-exchange membranes by Donnan dialysis (DD) method as a function of concentration, pH and membrane structure. The flux values (J) and recovery factor (RF) of fluoride before and after the modification are obtained. The flux values and recovery factors for plasma modified AFX membrane are higher than that of pristine membrane. This can be explained by change of wettability and morphology in the plasma modified membrane. The pH optimization was carried out between 3 and 9 and pH 5.5 used for all experiments. The surface morphology of the plasma modified and pristine membranes are characterized by SEM, AFM and contact angle, respectively. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.