Water pollution with heavy metals is a matter of major concern for public health and also for natural resource management. The present study investigated the effect of chemical modifications on biopolymeric adsorbents (based on chitosan membranes) for chromium removal using fixed-bed dynamic adsorption technique. Parameters such as flow rate, initial concentration and crosslinking agents were evaluated, from a practical point-of-view, in order to optimize the adsorption capacity of natural, glutaraldehyde and epichlorohydrin crosslinked chitosan membranes. The adsorption capacity of natural and epiclorohydrin-crosslinked chitosan membranes were very close to each other; however, glutaraldehyde-crosslinked chitosan membranes presented nearly twice the adsorption capacity compared to the other membranes, being the most promising adsorbent in such mass-transfer systems.
chitosan; heavy metal; chromium; adsorption
