Evaluation of the adsorption capacity of chitosan quaternized in the removal of Cu2+ and Cr3+ ions

Abstract

The treatment of effluents containing heavy metals by adsorption, using biopolymers as adsorbents have been widely investigated in order to obtain a material with high efficiency, readily available and economically feasible. As a natural adsorbent of metal ions, chitosan has shown good results, but the modification of its structure and crosslinking with chemical agents provides greater efficiency in adsorption processes. In this work, we have investigated the adsorption of Cu2+ and Cr3+ ions on chemically modified chitosan with a quaternary ammonium salt and crosslinked with glutaraldehyde. This modification leads to an increase in the adsorption capacity of the studied ions in comparison with the unmodified chitosan. Concluded that modifying the chemical structure of the adsorbent provided greater efficiency in the removal of studied ions with respect to unmodified chitosan.