Chitin is an abundant biopolymer that can be found in the shells of a variety of organisms. The most prominently used commercial sources of chitin are shrimp shells and fungi, but there are many sources including lobster shells and cicada sloughs. In a previous study, our research group managed to determine that the mechanical and thermal properties of chitin and its derivative chitosan obtained from these sources are very similar. As such, our main chitin/chitosan source was cicada sloughs. For this project, the focus was on utilizing differing ratios of chitin and chitosan to attempt to lower the amount of heavy metals, such as nickel and lead, in water samples. Water samples were collected from Indianapolis, Columbus, North Vernon, and Bloomington. The samples were reduced and a series of titrations were set up to determine the amount of heavy metals present in each. For the detection of lead, the sample was titrated with sodium metasilicate. For the detection of nickel, the sample was titrated with sodium hydroxide. For the detection of chromium, the sample was titrated with sodium thiosulfate. In order to minimize the amount of heavy metal present in the water, 0.025 g of chitin/chitosan was added to 10 ml of a water sample and it was stirred for three hours before filtering. This procedure was repeated utilizing different ratios of chitin and chitosan until the optimum ratio was determined.

Differential impact of chitin and chitosan on heavy metal pollution in water samples

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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