Paperboard Mill Sludge Derived Nanocellulose as a Biosorbent for Hexavalent Chromium

Abstract

In the present study, paperboard mill sludge derived nanocellulose as biosorbent for removal of hexavalent chromium from simulated aqueous solution prepared from potassium dichromate. The adsorbents namely, CA-NC and FA-NC were prepared through citric and formic acid hydrolyses of the nanocellulose. The prepared sorbents were utilized for the adsorption of Cr(VI), with parameters such as pH, adsorbent dosage, solute concentration and contact time played pivotal role in the study. The ideal circumstances of these parameters to perform well were notably pH of 2, with adsorbent dose of 1.5 g, solute concentration of 100 mg·L-1, with a contact duration of 60 minutes. The adsorption followed pseudo second order reaction and fitted the Langmuir isotherm model indicating chemisorption coupled with monolayer adsorption of adsorbate onto the adsorbent.