Applications of Chitosan, Graft Copolymers of Chitosan and ita??s Derivatives for Metal Ion Sorption: A Review

摘要

The industrial revolution leading to the unsustainable environmental development caused a big threat of the environmental pollution. The progressive increase of the industrial technology leads to increasing amount of water pollution in terms of release of lot heavy metal ions into the water bodies. The industrial effluents were loaded with the toxic metal ions like Pb, Hg, Cd, Cu, Ni, Fe etc. The heavy and toxic metal ions present in the water bodies are non-biodegradable and bio accumulative hence making the water bodies polluted. The increased level of these heavy metal ions in the water bodies leads to health hazards to the plants, animals and humans. This alarming situation leads to the large number of researchers to evolve some techniques of the removal of metal ions from water bodies. The classical methods like precipitation, ion exchange, electro-coagulation etc. were not much effective and expensive also. The use of the biopolymers proved satisfactory in this regard as these have tendency to sorb the metal ions effectively without any hazard to the environment as these are biodegradable and less expensive too. In the present review paper an effort is made in order to summarize the use of chitosan, graft copolymers of chitosan and its derivative in the sorption of different heavy metal ions.