Copper removal from wastewater by a chitosan-based biodegradable composite.
This work demonstrates that a biodegradable chitosan-based biocomposite packed in mini-reactors successfully removes copper ions from aqueous solutions. The chitosan is obtained by deacetylation of biological chitin, which is extracted from shrimp wastes by lactic acid fermentation. The polysaccharide is embedded in a biodegradable prepolymer matrix before extrusion to produce porous cylindrical pellets of 2 × 80 mm. The highest copper ion removal is 62.5 mg Cu2+ per g of the biodegradable adsorbent. Additionally, the adsorption capacity of the material, below its saturation, allows several cycles of reuse with a hydraulic retention time reduction of 1 h. This chitosan-based material is advantageous when compared with other approaches using non-biodegradable materials or costly commercial adsorbents for removing heavy metal ions in wastewater effluents as well as a filter component in water purification devices.
['Velasco-Garduño|Oscar|O|', 'Martínez|Manuel E|ME|', 'Gimeno|Miquel|M|', 'Tecante|Alberto|A|', 'Beristain-Cardoso|Ricardo|R|', 'Shirai|Keiko|K|http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6965-131X']
D000327:Adsorption D048271:Chitosan D003300:Copper D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration D007700:Kinetics D062065:Waste Water D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical D018508:Water Purification
Copper Wastewater Chitosan-based biocomposite Chitosan Extrusion Adsorption