Preparation and characterization of chitosan encapsulated Sargassum sp. biosorbent for nickel ions sorption

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2010.10.038

Bioresource Technology

Volume 102, Issue 3, February 2011, Pages 2821-2828

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2010.10.038 Get rights and content

Abstract

A new biosorbent – Sargassum sp. encapsulated with epichlorohydrin (ECH) cross-linked chitosan (CS) was investigated for nickel ions removal. The prepared biosorbent with Sargassum sp. to cross-linked chitosan of 3 (weight ratio) had the highest sorption capacity. The biosorption kinetics can be well fitted by the diffusion-controlled model. The organic leaching of CS was 77–88% less than that of algae at different pH. The biosorption capacity of nickel on CS was much higher than that of cross-linked chitosan (CLC) bead and lower than that of raw algae due to encapsulation. In addition, the reusability of CS was further evaluated and confirmed through five adsorption–desorption cycles. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis demonstrated that the nickel ions sequestration mechanism included ion exchange and nickel complexation with the carboxyl, amino, alcoholic and ether groups in CS.

Introduction

The need for various metals from industrial sectors has greatly increased over recent years, and heavy metal contamination has posed a serious threat to the environment, animals, and humans. Thus, it becomes important to develop cost-effective technologies for removal and recovery of heavy metals from wastewaters. Compared with the conventional physicochemical technologies, the biosorption is demonstrated to be promising for heavy metal removal because of its low cost, high adsorption efficiency for low concentration metal ions (Mehta and Gaur, 2005).

The brown algae have been proven to be effective and promising due to their high alginate content (Ahmady-Asbchin et al., 2008, Davis et al., 2003, Mehta and Gaur, 2005, Romera et al., 2007). Particularly, maximum metal uptake by Sargassum ranges from 0.09 to 3.08 mmol g⁻¹ biosorbent (Davis et al., 2003, Mehta and Gaur, 2005). However, the small size, low strength and density, and organic leaching of algal biosorbents during the adsorption process hinder their applications. Immobilization of the algal species and controlling their organic leaching for industrial application have been researched in recent years (Chen and Yang, 2005, Vilar et al., 2008). Agar, alginate, polysulfone, polyurethanes and polyvinyl alcohol may be suitable for the immobilization (Alhakawati and Banks, 2004, Bayramoğlu and Arica, 2009, Dias et al., 2002, Lai et al., 2008, Lopez et al., 2002, Mata et al., 2009, Khoo and Ting, 2001, Zhang and Banks, 2005). However, cost, toxicity and complex preparation procedures limit their applications.

The chitosan reportedly possesses such excellent properties as hydrophilicity, non-toxicity and remarkable affinity for heavy metals in comparison with other natural polymers obtained from seafood wastes and natural substances. Especially, the cross-linked chitosan hydrogel bead showed higher sorption capacity, acidic resistance and excellent reusability (Varma et al., 2004). The chitosan should be considered as a good carrier for the biomass immobilization.

In this paper, a cost-effective method for encapsulation of Sargassum sp. by chitosan was developed for heavy metal removal. The Sargassum sp./chitosan composite adsorbent (CS) with high algae/chitosan ratio (3:1) was utilized for the removal of Ni(II) ions from aqueous solutions; the biosorption capacity under different experimental conditions was investigated. The organic leaching of the sorbent was monitored during the metal uptake. Modeling of the sorption kinetics and isotherm was assessed with the experimental biosorption data as an input. The adsorption–desorption experiments were performed to investigate the reusability of the biosorbent. Finally, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were integrated to elucidate the interaction mechanism between nickel ions and the biosorbent.

Section snippets

Materials

Sargassum sp. was collected from the coasts of Singapore. After being washed with deionized water and dried at 60 °C overnight, the biomass was milled with a blender and sieved to particles with diameters below 150 μm.

Chitosan (⩾90% deacetylation), epichlorohydrin (ECH), nickel nitrate and acetic acid were purchased from Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Company (China). Sodium pyrophosphate tetrabasic decahydrate was provided by Tianjin Fuchen Chemical Reagent Company (China). Potassium oxalate and

Selection of sorbents and basic characterization

The ratio of Sargassum sp. to chitosan is critical to the performance of CS. For industrial application, it is better to use more Sargassum sp. in production of biosorbent as it plays a key role in the biosorption. In addition, the ECH dosage influences the sorption ability because it would react with the metal binding sites (Varma et al., 2004). In this work, a good spherical sorbent with diameter of about 2 mm was prepared when the ratio of Sargassum sp. to chitosan was 3:1. However, the

Conclusions

Chitosan encapsulated Sargassum sp. biosorbent were developed and investigated for the removal of nickel from aqueous solutions. Experimental results showed that the nickel adsorption capacity on CS, powdered Sargassum sp. were 0.51 mmol g⁻¹ and 0.66 mmol g⁻¹, respectively. The organic leaching from algae disposal were controlled in a relatively low level through immobilization. Regeneration study demonstrated that CS may be reused without obvious loss of adsorption capacity. FT-IR and XPS analysis

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under the Grant No. 50728806, and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A^*Star) of Singapore under the Grant Nos. R-288-000-066-305 and 092 101 0059.

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Preparation and characterization of chitosan encapsulated Sargassum sp. biosorbent for nickel ions sorption

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Materials

Selection of sorbents and basic characterization

Conclusions

Acknowledgements

Bioresource Technol.

J. Environ. Manage.

Bioresource Technol.

Chemosphere

Chem. Eng. J.

Water Res.

Biochem. Eng. J.

Bioresource Technol.

J. Membrane Sci.

Biochem. Eng. J.

J. Hazard. Mater.

Bioresource Technol.

J. Colloid Interface Sci.

Carbohyd. Polym.

Chemosphere

Bioresource Technol.

Bioresource Technol.

Colloids Surf. A

Biosorption of nickel on blank alginate beads, free and immobilized algal cells

Process Biochem.

Chemical modification Sargassum sp. for prevention of organic leaching and enhancement of uptake during metal biosorption

Ind. Eng. Chem. Res.