Revolutionizing polymeric framework with integrated aluminium fragment for superior water decontamination empowered by statistical modeling approach

Abstract

Groundwater contamination is a huge global challenge affecting millions of people. Consequently, to address this issue, unique methodology adopted to prepare integrated aluminium polymeric fragment i.e. poly(Aluminium trimethacrylate) (pAlTMA), with the potential to viable alternative of activated alumina (AA) suitable for a diverse array of water treatment applications. The prepared pAlTMA has shown noteworthy sorption efficacies (qemax) of 421.94 mg g-1, 9.25 mg g-1, and 8.60 mg g-1 for fluoride, arsenate and arsenite correspondingly, which owe to the material's high surface area [surface area: 278 m2g-1 and pore volume: 0.281cm3g-1], coupled with the existence of the acrylate chain of the aluminum framework in the three-dimensional shape, renders it an effective sorbent for fluoride and both forms of arsenic. The pAlTMA exhibited a significant mitigating efficacy >97% for ionic species across a broad pH spectrum. The density functional theory (DFT) elucidated the interaction mechanisms between pAlTMA and these ionic species. The fitting of the experimental data indicated that the nonlinear variant of the Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetics adequately characterize the sorption phenomena of pAlTMA. The RSM-CCD model was utilized in the experimental design and optimization process to ascertain the optimal conditions of operational variables aimed at maximizing the removal efficiency for arsenic and fluoride ions.