Application of Cellulose-Clay Composite Biosorbent toward the Effective Adsorption and Removal of Chromium from Industrial Wastewater

Abstract

Biopolymer composites are known for their utility in diverse applications. In this paper, we report an effective methodology for the detoxification of chromium using cellulose-montmorillonite composite material as the adsorbent. The interaction of surfactant modified sodium montmorillonite (NaMMT) with cellulose biopolymer is followed by the subsequent adsorption of Cr(VI) from aqueous solution as bichromate anion onto the surface of the biocomposite material. The composite adsorbent was characterized comprehensively using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Branauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) isotherm studies. The material exhibited a maximum adsorption capacity of 22.2 mg g–1 in accordance with the Langmuir isotherm model. The mesoporous nature of the material was ascertained from the nitrogen adsorption isotherm study and the adsorption process was in accordance with second order kinetics. The spontaneity of the adsorption process could be confirmed from the study of the adsorption thermodynamics. The composite material could be regenerated using sodium hydroxide as the eluent. The adsorbent could be reused with quantitative recovery for 10 adsorption–desorption cycles. An aqueous phase feed volume of 400 mL could be quantitatively treated by column method at 100 mg L–1 concentration of Cr(VI) with a preconcentration factor of 50. The applicability of the method is demonstrated in the quantitative removal of total chromium from a chrome tannery effluent sample.

Wastewater treatment enhancement by applying a lipopeptide biosurfactant to a lignocellulosic biocomposite

“…Namasivayam and Sureshkumar (2005) found the same pseudosecond order behaviour when studying the adsorption dynamics of anionic dyes onto surfactant-modified coir pith. Moreover, the results published by Kumar, Kalidhasan, Rajesh, and Rajesh (2012) also showed a close correlation between the experimental and the calculated values predicted by the second-order kinetic model in the adsorption of chromium onto cellulose-montmorillonite composite, observing that the interaction of surfactant modified sodium montmorillonite with cellulose biopolymer was followed by the subsequent adsorption of Cr from aqueous solution as bichromate anion onto the surface of the biocomposite material. On the other hand, the Chien-Clayton equation (Fig.…”

Biomass derived palygorskite–carbon nanocomposites: Synthesis, characterisation and affinity to dye compounds

“…Among the various clay modifications, anchoring of carbonaceous materials, which are abundant in oxygen-containing groups and exist on the surface of solid adsorbents such as clay minerals, has emerged as a new class of adsorbent for contaminant removal (Anadão et al, 2011(Anadão et al, , 2014Chen et al, 2011;Kumar et al, 2011;Ai and Li, 2013). Clay minerals or zeolite can act as a uniform dispersion medium for nano-sized carbon particles and thus ideally help improve the composite's reactivity to target pollutant compounds (Katsuki et al, 2005;Anadão et al, 2011;Wu et al, 2014).…”

Adsorption of chromium supported with various column modelling studies through the synergistic influence of Aspergillus and cellulose

“…The negative value of ΔG and ΔH indicates that the biosorption process is spontaneous and exothermic respectively. The negative values of activation energy [31] Ea = ΔH o ads+RT (Table 3) confirms the exothermic nature and the negative entropy shows decreased randomness at biosorbent -solution interphase. The enthalpy values obtained indicate the system follows physico chemical adsorption [51].…”

“…Biopolymers such as cellulose and chitosan function as good supports for chromium removal as they are easily available at low cost and are also degradable [31,32]. The numerous methods available for removal of chromium using batch studies have some limitations during scale up operations.…”