Rourkela, Oct 14: Researchers at National Institute of Technology Rourkela (NIT Rourkela) have developed a material that can remove excess fluoride from contaminated groundwater. By using activated carbon made from jackfruit peel and modifying it with zirconium to improve its fluoride-capturing ability, the patented material offers a promising approach to addressing a drinking water challenge that affects communities across India.

According to a report published by the World Health Organization (WHO), excessive fluoride in drinking water can negatively impact human health. It can cause dental and skeletal fluorosis, affecting both children and adults.

Fluoride contamination has been reported in groundwater in several parts of the country, making affordable and sustainable water treatment an important public health priority.

While there are multiple conventional methods to remove fluoride from groundwater, they all have certain limitations for wider adoption. For example, the reverse osmosis method discards a large amount of water in the treatment process and removes beneficial minerals like calcium and magnesium from the treated water. On the other hand, processes such as ion exchange and activated alumina use harsh chemicals, making them non-eco-friendly.

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To address these limitations, the NIT Rourkela research team converted discarded jackfruit peel into activated carbon.

Explaining the science behind the developed technology, Prof. Susmita Mishra, Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, NIT Rourkela, said,“The key idea behind this technology is to use an agricultural waste material as a resource for water purification. We prepared activated carbon from discarded jackfruit peel and modified it with zirconium to improve its ability to capture fluoride from water. The material showed promising results in laboratory tests, removing over 90% of fluoride within approximately 10 minutes under the tested conditions.”

The research team, including Prof. Susmita Mishra and Dr. Pratima Minz, Research Graduate, NIT Rourkela, has secured a patent for the developed technology (Application No. 202531080242, dated 25 August 2025).

In lab-scale tests, the developed material achieved more than 90% fluoride removal within approximately 10 minutes at fluoride concentrations of around 1–5 milligrams per litre. The research team recorded removal efficiencies exceeding 90–97% within 10–20 minutes under the tested conditions. These findings indicate the material's potential for applications in drinking water treatment, including in regions where groundwater fluoride levels pose a concern.

Particularly in rural and semi-urban areas where access to reliable treatment infrastructure is limited, the developed technology holds the potential to support decentralised water treatment solutions at a community level. Additionally, the use of an agricultural by-product supports a waste-to-resource pathway, thus promoting a more sustainable approach to water purification.

Speaking about the real-world applications of the developed technology, Prof. Mishra said,“The potential of this technology lies in its use of an easily available agricultural by-product to develop a cost-effective material for fluoride removal. In the long term, the technology could contribute to decentralised water treatment solutions for communities in fluoride-affected regions, subject to further testing and validation.”

By validating the developed material and water treatment concept at the laboratory level, the research has reached Technology Readiness Level 4 (TRL 4). Based on the lab-scale tests, the research team has estimated the synthesis cost at approximately Rs. 37 per gram, based on the electricity and chemicals used.

As the next step, the research team now plans to develop a physical prototype and assess the practical deployment, long-term performance, and operational costs of the developed material.