New material for arsenic (V) removal based on chitosan supported onto modified polypropylene membrane

This paper presents a new material easily synthesized and with low cost, with the possibility of remove arsenic and the potential capability for the remediate water bodies. In this work, the efficiency in removing arsenic of the chitosan, supported onto modified polypropylene membrane, was studied using an aqueous As(V) solution of 0.4 mg/L, achieving a removal efficiency of 75%, which corresponds to an adsorption capacity of 0.031 mg/g. The As(V) adsorption depends on pH and the degree of chitosan grafting on the polypropylene membrane. A pseudo-second-order equation describes the adsorption of the membrane, classifying it as a chemisorption process. The chitosan supported on the membrane was characterized by the analysis of wettability, FT-IR-ATR, SEM-EDS, XRD powder, and surface charge. The As ions coordinate to the chitosan polar groups, allowing their removal from the aqueous solution.