Comparative study on the removal of chromium using chitosan/polyethylene glycol/carboxymethyl cellulose uncrosslinked and crosslinked blends

Abstract

The removal of Cr(VI) ions from aqueous solutions has been investigated using chitosan/polyethylene glycol/carboxymethyl cellulose uncrosslinked and crosslinked blends under different experimental conditions of contact time, adsorbent dose and pH. The sorption kinetics was tested for the pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order reaction. The results revealed that the adsorptions of Cr(VI) onto chitosan/ polyethylene glycol /carboxymethyl cellulose uncrosslinked and crosslinked blends, was found to fit well with the Freundlich isotherm. The rate constants of sorption for kinetic models were calculated and good correlation coefficients obtained for the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The results indicate that under the optimum conditions, the chitosan/polyethylene glycol/carboxymethyl cellulose uncrosslinked and crosslinked blends was found as an effective adsorbent for chromium.