Removal of heavy metals from wastewater using chitosan

Abstract

In this research work natural bio polymer “chitosan” was synthesized using locally available shrimp shells and adsorption of chromium by chitosan was studied. Synthesize of chitosan involved four main stages as preconditioning, demineralization, deprotenisation and deacetylation. Chitosan was characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Both characterization techniques confirm the existence of chitosan. The affinity of chitosan for chromium was studied using K2Cr2O7 solution as the heavy metal solution containing Cr (VI) ions. Adsorption of chromium ions by chitosan was investigated under different conditions. The effect of reaction temperature, particle size of chitosan and pH of solution were studied. Amount of chromium absorbed under different conditions was evaluated using atomic adsorption spectroscopy.