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Updated: Jun 20, 2026
Preparation of Expanded Chitin Foams and their Use in the Removal of Aqueous Copper
Published on: February 27, 2021
Preparation and characterization of novel composites based on chitosan and clinoptilolite with enhanced adsorption
Ecaterina Stela Dragan1, Maria Valentina Dinu, Daniel Timpu
1Department of Functional Polymers, Petru Poni Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Aleea Grigore Ghica Voda 41A, 700487 Iasi, Romania. sdragan@icmpp.ro
Abstract:
Novel ionic composites based on chitosan (CS) and clinoptilolite (CPL), a widespread natural zeolite, were prepared in this work as microspheres by a "tandem" ionic/covalent cross-linking. The mass ratio between CPL and CS was varied in the range 1:10-1:2. The ionic gelation of CS was performed with sodium tripolyphosphate and epichlorohydrin was used as covalent cross-linker. An abrupt increase of the adsorption capacity for Cu(2+) with the increase of the CPL content loaded in the composite compared with cross-linked CS was observed, up to 20 wt.% of CPL. The external stimuli which control the adsorption of Cu(2+) were solution pH and temperature. The optimum adsorption pH was 5.0 and the adsorption process was well described by the pseudo-second-order kinetics. The maximum adsorption capacity of metal ions was observed after the 2nd cycle of adsorption, for all composites.
