Abstract

Sibi Srinivasan¹*, Pragathiswaran Chelliah², Venkatesan Srinivasan¹, Anthuvan Babu Stantley¹, and Kullagounder Subramani³

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/ojc/320176

Cr(VI) is removed efficiently from aqueous solution using Chitosan made films as the adsorbent. The efficiency of free Chitosan films is compared with the Chitosan-Silica and Chitosan-Carbon, which are reinforced with biogenic Silica and Carbon obtained from Panicum miliare husk ashes, respectively. All the films were prepared by simple ageing method and swelling index was determined for all the three adsorbents independently. Adsorption studies of Cr(VI) heavy metal were carried out by varying pH, temperature, initial concentration of the adsorbate and quantity of adsorbent. On the otherhand, Cr(VI) was removed from the solution by Chitosan-Silica  film better than free Chitosan and Chitosan-Carbon films. The optimum pH was found to be 3.0 and optimum temperature was 30°C. Thermodynamic, equilibrium and kinetic studies were carried out for all the three adsorbents, independently. Langmuir adsorption isotherm and Pseudo First Order kinetics were followed for the adsorption process. Concentration of metal ions was determined using a spectrophotometer. Oxidation states of the adsorbed Cr were determined by ESR. It was found that Chitosan-Silica film reduced Cr(VI) to Cr(III) almost completely in the aqueous solution.

Chitosan; removed efficiently; aqueous solution; independently

[ View HTML Full Text]