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Novel highly porous magnetic hydrogel beads composed of chitosan and sodium citrate: an effective adsorbent for the removal of heavy metals from aqueous solutions

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Abstract

This research focuses on the removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions using magnetic chitosan hydrogel beads as a potential sorbent. Highly porous magnetic chitosan hydrogel (PMCH) beads were prepared by a combination of in situ co-precipitation and sodium citrate cross-linking. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy indicated that the high sorption efficiency of metal cations is attributable to the hydroxyl, amino, and carboxyl groups in PMCH beads. Thermogravimetric analysis demonstrated that introducing Fe3O4 nanoparticles increases the thermal stability of the adsorbent. Laser confocal microscopy revealed highly uniform porous structure of the resultant PMCH beads, which contained a high moisture content (93%). Transmission electron microscopy micrographs showed that the Fe3O4 nanoparticles, with a mean diameter of 5 ± 2 nm, were well dispersed inside the chitosan beads. Batch adsorption experiments and adsorption kinetic analysis revealed that the adsorption process obeys a pseudo-second-order model. Isotherm data were satisfactorily described by the Langmuir equation, and the maximum adsorption capacity of the adsorbent was 84.02 mg/g. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectra analyses were performed to confirm the adsorption of Pb2+ and to identify the adsorption mechanism.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51408074) and the Research Fund of State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection (Nos. SKLGP2015Z007, SKLGP2017Z009). Dr. Shengyan PU is grateful for the support from the Hong Kong Scholars Program (No. XJ2015005 and G-YZ80) and the Project Funded by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2015T80966).

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Author notes

  1. S. Pu and H. Ma. contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection, Chengdu University of Technology, 1#, Dongsanlu, Erxianqiao, Chengdu, 610059, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China

    Shengyan Pu, Hui Ma & Anatoly Zinchenko

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China

    Shengyan Pu & Wei Chu

  3. Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan

    Anatoly Zinchenko

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  1. Shengyan Pu
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  2. Hui Ma
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  3. Anatoly Zinchenko
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  4. Wei Chu
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Correspondence to Shengyan Pu or Anatoly Zinchenko.

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Responsible editor: Guilherme L. Dotto

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Pu, S., Ma, H., Zinchenko, A. et al. Novel highly porous magnetic hydrogel beads composed of chitosan and sodium citrate: an effective adsorbent for the removal of heavy metals from aqueous solutions. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 16520–16530 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9213-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9213-0

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