Synthesis, Characterization and Adsorption Properties of Grafted Cellulose for Cr (VI) Removal

Abstract

Abstract The fabrication of low-cost adsorbent sourced from recycled newspapers (RNPs) can be effectively used as a medium to adsorb hexavalent chromium, Cr(VI) from aqueous solution. The RNPs-based cellulose pulp was modified with the addition of acrylonitrile (AN) as the monomer to be grafted to the cellulose backbones. RNPs pulps were undergo alkali treatment with 5wt% NaOH solution with the ratio of 1:40 (g/mL). The unmodified and modified adsorbents, which were labeled as RNPs and g-RNPs were characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). In batch adsorption study, changing the initial concentrations of Cr(VI), contact time and pH of the solution will allow the study of adsorption behavior of the Cr(VI)towards the adsorbents to be made. From the findings, it was found that the adsorption was highly dependent on the pH of the solution. Two types of models, which are Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models, were used to describe the adsorption behavior of the metals ion onto the adsorbents. The adsorption isotherm was well fitted with Langmuir model. Meanwhile, for the kinetic adsorption study, the data best interpreted with Pseudo-first order. In short, graft copolymerization of AN monomer onto RNPs-based cellulose pulp sourced from RNPs was found to be efficiently applied for heavy metals removal, especially for Cr(VI).