Chitosan biopolymer as an adsorbent for drinking water treatment Investigation on Arsenic and Uranium

Abstract: In many countries over the world (including Sweden), metal toxicity in freshwater resources causes a severe drinking water quality problem and poses a threat to the environment and human health. Among the different toxic metals in the water resources of Sweden, arsenic and uranium are the biggest threats to health. These elements, over long time consumption, may even lead to cancer and/or neurological disorder. Most of the wells are installed in crystalline and sedimentary bedrock and the received water comes from water bearing fractures in the bedrock. The handling of such water is an issue and there is a need to reduce the arsenic and uranium exposure by improving processes and technologies. It is a very serious problem demanding a safe, sustainable and eco-friendly arsenic and uranium removal technology prior to drinking water supply. Different treatment systems are available, but many of them are not suitable due to their high cost, operation complexity and waste management issues. Through this study, chitosan biopolymer the second largest abundant polysaccharide on earth after cellulose, was verified as a potential adsorbent for arsenic(V) and uranium(VI) removal from water solution. Adsorbent characterizations were also conducted by XRD, FTIR, SEM, UV-visible spectrum and TGA/DTA investigations. Bench-scale batch experiments were conducted using chitosan biopolymer (DDA-85%) as an adsorbent to determine the arsenic(V) and uranium(VI) removal efficiency, by allowing four important effective parameters e.g. chitosan dosages, pH, contact time and contaminant concentration. The adsorption data at optimum conditions were fitted with Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkhevic (D-R) isotherm and Lagergren pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic model to investigate the adsorption process. The characterization of materials assured the presence of effective amino, hydroxyl, and carboxyl groups of chitosan. Another advanntage is that the materials are bio-degradable. The results show that the arsenic(V) and uranium(VI) removal efficiency was 100% and 97.45% after 300 minutes with optimum pH of 6.0 and 7.0 respectively. The optimum adsorbent dosages and initial concentration were 60 and 80g/L and 100 and 250 µg/L respectively. The adsorption process was suitably described by Freundlich isotherm (R2 = 0.9933) and Langmuir isotherm (R2 = 0.9858) correspondingly for arsenic(V) uranium(VI) compared to other isotherms. This is an important indicator of homogeneous monolayer adsorption of metals. For both of arsenic(V) and uranium(VI), pseudo-second-order explained the adsorption kinetics better than pseudo-first-order and the second-order kinetic regression coefficient (R2) were 0.9959 and 0.9672 correspondingly. Connecting to the above mentioned results, it can be summed up that the chitosan biopolymer (DDA 85%) can be used as an inexpensive, sustainable and environment-friendly treatment option for arsenic(V) and uranium(VI) contaminated drinking water.