Sorption studies of lead (II) onto crosslinked and non crosslinked biopolymeric blends

Abstract

The removal of Pb (II) ions from aqueous solution by crosslinked (glutaraldehyde-chitosan/Nylon6/Polyurethane foam) and non crosslinked (chitosan/Nylon6/Polyurethane foam) blends has been investigated. Chitosan solution was blended with Nylon6 and Polyurethane foam in the ratio of 2:1:1 with and without crosslinking agent (glutaraldehyde), in order to obtain sorbents that are insoluble in aqueous acidic and basic solution. Batch adsorption studies were performed as a function of pH, contact time and adsorbent dose. The optimum pH required for maximum adsorption of lead was found to be 5. The equilibrium adsorption data has been tested for the Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherms. The data were suitable to Freundlich isotherm model for both the blends. The kinetic parameters of the adsorption process were estimated using the pseudo-first and pseudo-second order models. These data indicated that the adsorption process followed the pseudo-first-order kinetics.