Blended Composites of Chitosan: Adsorption Profile for Mitigation of Toxic Pb (II) Ions from Water

An environmental pollution is the unfavorable alteration of surrounding toxicity due to heavy metals, organic pollutants, radioactive materials, pesticides, dyes, pigments, fatty/oil impurities and minerals that are responsible for crucial ecological and health concerns. The indiscriminate industrial and anthropological activities render water resources unsuitable for consumptions. Percolations of synthetic pollutants in water are responsible for detrimental effects on aquatic flora and fauna. Environmental contamination of water poses the major challenge to develop efficient water treatment techniques based on usage of biopolymers. Hence, chitosan (de-acetylated chitin: β-(1 → 4) D-glucosamine) biosorbent is preferred which is cheap, biodegradable, and biocompatible for the mitigation of few heavy metals from water. Chitosan’s flexible skeleton was modified by doping few organic/inorganic moieties to yield biocomposites for adsorption of varied pollutants. In this chapter, the batch adsorption of toxic Pb (II) ions from water using graphite doped chitosan composite (GDCC) as an adsorbent is discussed. Maximum Pb (II) ions adsorption capacity was 6.711 mg/g (from Langmuir) at optimum pH 6 with dosage of 1 g/L in 120 min. Biosorption mechanism is emphasized in context with wastewater cleanup procedures