Chitosan A Low Cost Adsorbent for Electroplating Waste Water Treatment

摘要

In the wake of rapid industrialization, urbanization and population explosion, the basic needs of life viz. air, water and land are continuously being polluted over the period of the time. Effluent waste from Electroplating industries considerably pollutes the environment. It is of major concern as the discharged heavy metals such as Cr6+, Zn2+, Cu2+, Pb2+, Cd2+ etc. are harmful to the ecosystem. Although various techniques are used for the removal of heavy metals. Bioadsorption process is one of the mainly adopted methods to recycle and reuses the wastewater. Hence the present study focused in assessing the usage of chitosan, a marine biopolymer extracted from the locally available shells of crab Portunus pelagicus as an adsorbent. The ability of chitosan to adsorb heavy metals such as Cr6+, Zn2+, Cu2+, Pb2+, Cd2+ from the electroplating industry waste water effluents was investigated at different pH. It was found that maximum adsorption of heavy metals occurred at a pH range between 5 to 7. The study results indicate that the cost incurred towards extraction was less than that the cost incurred by the commercial treatment facilities. The -OH and –NH2 functional groups in chitosan facilitate the adsorbent function and make it an ideal adsorbent for the treatment of wastewater. This study brings to light that chitosan is function as an economically useful adsorbent for the treatment of electro plating effluent containing heavy metals.