Abstract
Composite biosorbents were produced from animal bone by carbonization, activation of animal bone char with phosphoric acid and zinc (II) chloride independently, and the obtained activated carbons were separately impregnated on chitosan. The chitosan was produced from chitin, which was extracted from shrimp shell through deminerization, deproteinization and deacetylation processes. Comprehensive characterization studies were carried out on the chitin, chitosan, and the resulting five biosorbents via proximate and ultimate analyses, and Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Electron-dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) analyses. The absorption bands of the standard chitosan from Sigma-Aldrich and the experimentally prepared chitosan were in excellent agreement. The results of this study showed that activated carbons impregnated on chitosan have the potential to be applied as alternative efficient low-cost and eco-friendly biosorbents for batch and continuous adsorption column experimentation. Key words: Biosorbents, chemical activation, chitin, chitosan, impregnation, characterization.
Highlights
The most imperative part in the adsorption process is the adsorbent
The objective of this study is to contribute in the quest for low-cost and eco-friendly adsorbents that can be used for industrial applications via preparation of char from animal bone, chemical activation of the char using phosphoric acid and ZnCl2, to produce acid-treated animal bone carbon (AABC) and ZnCl2-treated animal bone carbon (ZABC) respectively, preparation of chitin from shrimp shell and subsequent preparation of chitosan from chitin, and impregnation of AABC and ZABC on chitosan to produce animal bone carbon impregnated on chitosan (AABCC) and ZnCl2-treated animal bone carbon impregnated on chitosan (ZABCC) respectively, and provide succinct information on the characterization properties of the five prepared adsorbents
These analyses revealed that the chitin had higher moisture content than the chitosan, which was expected for reason of water being removed from the chitin prior to the chitosan production
Summary
There is a variety of adsorbents (such as activated carbon, silica gel and alumina) that have been developed for a wide range of industrial applications because they present enormous surface areas per unit weight. The significance and relevance of activated carbon to an ever growing society cannot be overemphasized considering its wide applications in domestic, commercial and industrial settings (Mendez et al, 2006) in fluid phase adsorption studies. In the food industry, activated carbon is used in decolourization, deodorization and taste removal. Activated carbon is used in water dechlorination and processing of foods. It is used in medicine for adsorption of harmful chemicals and drugs. Owing to the fact that commercial activated carbon is very expensive and the processes of manufacturing and regeneration are not explicating enough (Bhattacharyya and Sharma, 2004), in recent
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