Adsorption Studies of Lead(II) from aqueous solution onto Nanochitosan /Polyurethane /Polypropylene glycol ternary blends

Abstract

Chitosan is one of the most abundant natural biopolymer after cellulose. Nanochitosan (NCS) was prepared from chitosan by ionic gelation method with sodium tripolyphosphate. Polyurethanes (PU) find wide range of applications as good materials for the concentration and removal of both organic and inorganic pollutants because of their high efficiency for sorption of various ionic and neutral materials. Polypropylene glycol (PPG) is a family of long chain polymers attached to a glycerine backbone. The present project deals with the aims in exploiting the positive behaviour of the three polymers by preparing a ternary blends of NCS/PU/PPG(1:1:1) ratio. Batch adsorption process was carried out using prepared ternary blend of various parameters influencing the Pb(II) adsorption such as initial concentration of the metal solutions, pH, agitation time and adsorbent concentrations have been studied. The characterization of the prepared sample was carried out using FTIR, XRD, TGA, DSC and SEM studies. Langmuir, Freundlich and Tempkin isotherm parameters have been determined. Adsorption kinetic data were tested using pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order and Elovich model. The kinetics of the adsorption was found to fit the pseudo-second order model. The present work proves the suitability of the ternary blend as an effective adsorbent for Pb(II).

Keywords: Adsorption isotherm; Lead; Nanochitosan; Polyproyleneglycol; Polyurethane.