Abstract
Role of composition and the nature of crosslinking on the properties of titania-chitosan beads have been investigated in detail. The investigations were done in order to explore the feasibility of design and synthesis of titania-chitosan beads with bespoke functionality based on the intended application. This would greatly enhance the potential for the industrial application of these biopolymer based beads. Beads of varying compositions (of titania and chitosan) were prepared and crosslinked using epichlorohydrin or glutaraldehyde. The physical characteristics and antimony binding properties of the resultant crosslinked titania-chitosan beads were investigated in detail. Influence of chitosan amount on swelling was seen to be more predominant in the glutaraldehyde crosslinked beads (TA-Cts-Glu). TA-Cts-Glu beads showed more swelling and better antimony (Sb(III) and Sb(V)) uptake as compared to the epichlorohydrin crosslinked beads (TA-CTS-Epi). While TA-Cts-Glu beads showed faster uptake kinetics compared to the TA-CTS-Epi beads, the latter showed selectivity towards Sb(III) against transition metal cations. Further, the beads exhibited differential uptake of Sb(V) and Sb(III). TA-Cts-Glu beads prepared with equal amounts of titania and chitosan showed the maximum Sb(V) uptake while the TA-Cts-Epi beads with higher chitosan to titania ratio showed the least. Sb(V) binding was enhanced by the crosslinked chitosan, while the Sb(III) uptake was aided predominantly by the titania content in the beads.
Highlights
Removal of low-level radioactive antimony during coolant system decontamination is a difficult problem faced by most of the nuclear power plants around the world [1, 2]
It involved in-situ titania impregnated-chitosan (TA-Cts) bead formation and subsequent base catalysed crosslinking of chitosan in the alkaline bath. Such one pot procedure is not feasible when glutaraldehyde is used as the crosslinker as the crosslinking is to be done in acidic medium, which would lead to instant solidification of the titania-chitosan dispersion
The TA-Cts beads obtained were crosslinked by suspending the beads in the respective crosslinker solution for 24 h
Summary
Removal of low-level radioactive antimony during coolant system decontamination is a difficult problem faced by most of the nuclear power plants around the world [1, 2]. Antimony is considered as an emerging drinking water pollutant and major source of antimony pollution comes from antimony mining and smelting industries [3]. USEPA has classified antimony as a pollutant of priority importance and prescribed 6 ppb as the maximum contaminant level. The WHO set guideline value for antimony in drinking water is 20 ppb. There is an increasing focus on the treatment of industrial effluents containing antimony and research on various materials with antimony binding properties are emerging. The extent of work, is limited and not as wide as is seen on development of materials for the removal of regular heavy metal pollutants
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