Removal and recovery of heavy metals through size enhanced ultrafiltration using chitosan derivatives and optimization with response surface modeling.

N­N­N­triethylammonium chitosan (TEAC) and carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCh), the two water-soluble chitosan derivatives were utilized for the removal and recovery of heavy metals by size enhanced ultrafiltration (SEUF). The strong positive quaternary ammonium [-N+(C2H5)3] cation in TEAC interacts with Cr(VI), which exists as a strong chromate anion thereby enabling the efficient removal of chromate through ultrafiltration. CMCh consists of COOH and NH2 moieties, which facilitate interactions with heavy metals such as Cu(II) and Ni(II). FTIR, SEM, and EDAX were used to characterize the chitosan derivatives before and after the removal of metals. The experiments were designed with the central composite design (CCD) of response surface methodology (RSM). The metal ion removal experiments were conducted as per the statistical design to determine the optimum process conditions; initial pH of the feed solution, polymer to metal loading ratio (P/M), and initial concentration of the feed solution. The optimization study was conducted to maximize the heavy metal rejection and binding capacity of the chitosan derivatives. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to validate the developed regression models.

Zr(IV) loaded cross-linked chitosan beads with enhanced surface area for the removal of nitrate and phosphate.

In this work, a new method namely silica dissolution method, has been adapted to increase the surface area of the cross-linked chitosan beads. Zr(IV) was loaded in the cross-linked chitosan beads in order to make it selective for the nitrate and phosphate anions from aqueous solutions. Zr(IV) loaded cross-linked chitosan beads prepared by normal method (ZrCB) and silica dissolution method (SD-ZrCB) were characterised using N2 adsorption/desorption studies, SEM, EDAX, XRD, FTIR, TGA, DTA and water regain property. The SD-ZrCB exhibited higher N2 adsorption, water regain property as well as anion adsorption capacity than ZrCB. Batch method was adapted for the adsorption studies. The nitrate and phosphate adsorbed SD-ZrCB was regenerated using 0.025M NaCl solution. There was not much drop in adsorption capacities up to 10th regeneration cycle. Freundlich adsorption isotherm was the best fit adsorption isotherm among Freundlich, Langmuir and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) isotherms which have been used to fit the nitrate and phosphate adsorption data. Thermodynamic parameters such as ΔG°, ΔH° and ΔS° were calculated in order to understand the nature of adsorption process.

A novel quaternized chitosan-melamine-glutaraldehyde resin for the removal of nitrate and phosphate anions.

A terpolymer of chitosan-melamine-glutaraldehyde was prepared for the first time and it was quaternized with glycidyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (GTMAC). The quaternized chitosan-melamine-glutaraldehyde resin (QCMGR) was found to be effective for the removal of nitrate and phosphate oxyanions. The resin was characterised with FTIR, SEM, EDAX, TGA, DTA, XRD and water regain property. Batch method was followed to optimise the conditions for the removal of nitrate and phosphate. Chemical kinetics of the adsorption was well fitted by pseudo-second order and particle diffusion models and the adsorption process followed the Freundlich isotherm model well. The nitrate and phosphate adsorption capacity of QCMGR from 1000 mg/L respective solutions were 97.5 and 112.5mg/g, respectively. Nitrate and phosphate anions adsorbed effectively on QCMGR by replacing Cl(-) ions at the quaternary ammonium group by exchange mechanism. Even after 10th regeneration cycle the adsorbent fully retained its adsorption efficiency. Nitrate and phosphate removal efficiency of QCMGR was also tested by column method.