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Chitosan Functionalized Alunite as a Green Composite for Sorption and Preconcentration of Copper: From Parametric Optimization to Application

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Abstract

In this study, alunite was immobilized with chitosan to investigate the effective parameters for its adsorption and preconcentration potential for Cu2+ ions. After immobilization, the proposed composite’s adsorption efficiency increased by about 93% and 9%, respectively, when compared to alunite and chitosan components. The pseudo-second-order model better described Cu2+ adsorption. Equilibrium data indicated that Cu2+ adsorption followed the order of Langmuir > D-R > Freundlich with the maximum monolayer adsorption capacities of 42.43, 51.50, and 58.14 mg g−1 at 10, 20, and 30 °C, respectively. Regeneration of the biopolymer composite was achieved with 0.1 M HNO3. IR, SEM/EDX, TG/DTA analysis, and zeta potential measurements were used to characterize the biopolymer composite. An excellent Cu2+ removal performance was observed in a dynamic flow mode, with an adsorption yield of 98.03% at an optimum flow rate of 0.2 mL min−1. The preconcentration of Cu2+ ions by biopolymer composite was explored in the second stage of this work to optimize the type, concentration, and volume of eluent and sample volume. The influence of foreign ions on Cu2+ preconcentration performance was also investigated. At predefined optimum conditions and a 95% confidence level, the recovery yield was 99.97 ± 0.02%, and the RSD was 0.07%. The suggested preconcentration method's LOD and LOQ were 16.81 and 56.00 ng mL−1, respectively. The accuracy and applicability of the method were evaluated using certified standard materials and real water samples, and the produced biopolymer composite was effectively used for Cu2+ preconcentration from real samples.

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Acknowledgements

This work was derived from a PhD thesis, and we wish to express our gratitude to TÜBİTAK for providing Dilek Tunc with individual support during her doctoral education.

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  1. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Eskisehir Osmangazi University, TR-26040, Eskisehir, Turkey

    Sibel Tunali Akar, Fatih Sayin & Tamer Akar

  2. Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Eskisehir Osmangazi University, 26040, Eskisehir, Turkey

    Dilek Tunc

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STA: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, resources, writing—original draft, supervision. DT: investigation, formal analysis, visualization. FS: investigation, data curation, visualization. TA: resources, formal analysis, writing—review & editing.

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Tunali Akar, S., Tunc, D., Sayin, F. et al. Chitosan Functionalized Alunite as a Green Composite for Sorption and Preconcentration of Copper: From Parametric Optimization to Application. J Polym Environ 31, 1359–1372 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10924-022-02680-2

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