Comparison of the defluoridation efficiency of calcium phosphate and chitin in the exoskeleton of Antarctic krill

• Main Authors: Zhangmin, Wang, Xuebin, Yin
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Polar Research Institute of China - PRIC 2012
• Subjects: Fauna; Antarctic; Advances in Polar Science; Antarc*; Antarctic Krill; Polar Science
• Online Access: http://library.arcticportal.org/2459/; http://library.arcticportal.org/2459/1/A20120303.pdf

Calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), and chitin are the main components of the exoskeleton of krill. Defluoridation of a solution of sodium fluoride (NaF) using calcium phosphate (Ca3(PO4)2) and chitin as defluoridation agents was studied. Orthogonal experiments were designed to find the optimum reaction conditions for defluoridation, to obtain the maximum defluoridation efficiency and fluoride removal capacity of calcium phosphate and chitin. At the same time, a comparison of the capacity of the two defluoridation agents was made. The results suggest that calcium phosphate has a far greater capability than chitin for the removal of fluoride (F) from water under similar reaction conditions. It is also suggested that Antarctic krill is likely to adsorb fluoride via compounds such as calcium phosphate, hydroxyapatite, and other compounds of Ca and P with the general form (Ca, X)x(PO4, HPO4, Y)y(OH, Z)z, in addition to chitin.