Modeling the Sorption of Fluoride onto Alumina

Abstract

Fluoride is a potentially toxic ion that occurs in aquifers both naturally and as a result of anthropogenic activity. Sometimes remediation of the aquifer is required. One potential aquifer decontamination strategy is an “interception-sorption trench”—one of a number of “reactive wall” technologies. This remediation strategy relies upon natural hydraulic gradients to transport the fluoride through the aquifer to the interception-sorption trench where it partitions onto a strong sorbent—alumina. In this paper, the focus is on the development and calibration of an equilibrium-based geochemical model that will be employed in the development of a quantitative reactive transport model, which in t..