Xianghong Meng

Adsorption of heavy metal ions, dyes and proteins by chitosan composites and derivatives — A review

Chitosan composites and derivatives have gained wide attentions as effective biosorbents due to their low costs and high contents of amino and hydroxyl functional groups. They have showed significant potentials of removing metal ions, dyes and proteins from various media. Chemical modifications that lead to the formation of the chitosan derivatives and chitosan composites have been extensively studied and widely reported in literatures. The aims of this review were to summarize the important information of the bioactivities of chitosan, highlight the various preparation methods of chitosan-based active biosorbents, and outline its potential applications in the adsorption of heavy metal ions, dyes and proteins from wastewater and aqueous solutions.

Biosorption of lead from aqueous solutions by ion-imprinted tetraethylenepentamine modified chitosan beads.

In this paper, the bio-based ion-imprinted tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA) modified chitosan beads using Pb(II) as imprinted ions (Pb-ITMCB) were chemically synthesized, characterized and applied to selectively adsorb Pb(II) ions from aqueous solutions containing other metal ions, which has the same concentration as that of Pb(II) ions. Batch adsorption experiments were performed to evaluate the adsorption conditions, selectivity and reusability. FTIR, SEM and TEM technologies were used to elucidate the mechanism of Pb-ITMCB adsorbing Pb(II) ions. The results showed that the adsorption capacity of Pb-ITMCB for Pb(II) ions reached 259.68 mg/g at pH 6, 40 °C. The adsorption data could be fitted well with pseudo-second order kinetics model and Langmuir isotherm model. Compared with other metal cations, Pb(II) ions showed an overall affinity of being adsorbed by Pb-ITMCB. With the participation of active groups including NH2, NH and OH, the adsorption reaction took place both inside and on the surface of Pb-ITMCB. It indicated that Pb-ITMCB is a comparatively promising biosorbent for selective removal of Pb(II) ions from aqueous solutions.

Adsorptive removal of patulin from aqueous solution using thiourea modified chitosan resin

In the present paper, thiourea modified chitosan resin (TMCR) was firstly prepared through converting hydroxyl groups of chitosan resin into thiol groups, using glutaraldehyde as cross-linking agent and thiourea as modification agent. TMCR was characterized by FTIR, EDXS, SEM, XRD and AFM technologies. Batch adsorption experiments were performed to study the adsorption capacity of TMCR for patulin at different pH, temperature, contact time and patulin concentration. The result showed that TMCR was effective in removal of patulin from aqueous solution. The adsorption capacity of TMCR for patulin was 1.0 mg/g at pH 4.0, 25 °C for 24 h. Adsorption process could be well described by pseudo-first order model, Freundlich isotherm model and intraparticle diffusion model. It indicated that TMCR is expected to be a new material for patulin adsorption from aqueous solutions.

Hydrophobicity and physicochemical properties of agarose film as affected by chitosan addition

The blend films were prepared with different ratio of agarose (AG) and chitosan (CH) using the casting method. The fundamental performance and characteristics of AG, CH and blend films were investigated. The results showed that the tensile strength (TS) and elongation at break (EB) values of blend films were significantly (p<0.05) increased compared with AG film. The water contact angle (WCA) increased from 66.2 to 97.7° with the increasing ratio of blend film from AG70:CH30 to AG50:CH50. The thickness of blend films in this paper was varied from 0.010mm to 0.020mm, while the water vapor permeability (WVP) value of the blend film was higher than that of AG film mainly due to the increasing thickness. Moreover, hydrogen bonding and excellent compatibility were observed between agarose and chitosan according to thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses.

Effective Biodegradation of Mycotoxin Patulin by Porcine Pancreatic Lipase

Patulin is a common contaminant in fruits and vegetables, which is difficult to remove. In this study, the biodegradation of patulin using porcine pancreatic lipase (PPL) was investigated. The method of HPLC was used to analyze the concentration of patulin. Batch degradation experiments were performed to illustrate the effect of PPL amount, pH, temperature, contact time, and initial concentration. Besides, the degradation product of patulin was characterized by full wavelength scanning and MS technologies. The results showed that the optimum degradation conditions of PPL for patulin was observed at pH 7.5, 40°C for 48 h. The percentage of degradation could reach above 90%. The structure of degradable product of patulin was inferred by the molecular weight 159.0594, named C7H11O4+. It indicated that PPL was effective for the degradation of patulin in fruits and vegetables juice.