Chitosan membrane adsorber for low concentration copper ion removal

Thin chitosan membranes with symmetric and interconnected pore structure were prepared using silica as porogen, and their physical properties including pore structure, pore size distribution, porosity and water affinity were analyzed. The membrane showed a maximum Cu(II) adsorption capacity of 87.5mg/g in static adsorption, and the adsorption fitted pseudo-second order kinetics and Toth adsorption isotherm. The membranes were then stacked in layers as an adsorber to remove small concentration Cu(II) from water dynamically. At feed concentration of 5mg/L, the adsorber could retain Cu(II) effectively when its thickness reached over 200μm, and the performance was further improved by using more membranes layers. Within a certain limit, the adsorber showed a 'flow-independent' loading behavior, an indication of fast mass transfer inside the membrane. The adsorption process was correlated well with bed depth service time (BDST) model, Thomas model and Yoon and Nelson model, and the adsorber was also found to be regenerable and re-usable.