Although water covers 71 % of the Earth’s surface, only 2.5 % is known to be freshwater, of which a minimal percentage is available and suitable for consumption. The increasing demand from industry and the consequent generation of wastewater urge for purification techniques to guarantee the quality of the water. One of these techniques include the removal of toxic heavy metals, which are extremely harmful to both public health and aquatic life. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to control the concentration of these chemicals in water streams.<br/>To remove heavy metal ions from aqueous streams, techniques such as precipitation, adsorption, oxidation, etc., have been widely used. The process of adsorption possesses several advantages, where chitosan shows promising results. Chitosan is a naturally occurring biopolymer that can be obtained from chitin, which in turn can be valorised from crustacean shells. Chemical modification of chitosan, in terms of the introduction of amine and hydroxyl groups, is known to enhance the adsorption capacity of certain heavy metals from aqueous streams. Preliminary research proves that simple modifications result in a highly efficient removal of platinum and palladium. Furthermore, the sustainability of chitosan lies both in its origin and its application.

Chitosan derivatives for metal removal from wastewater

255th National Meeting (2018)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.