Preparation and Evaluation of Chitosan Beads Immobilized with Iron(III) for the Removal of As(III) and As(V) from Water

The crosslinked chitosan-Fe(III) (Ch-FeCL) adsorbent was developed using Fe(III) immobilized on chitosan beads. After drying, the beads presented a diameter of approximately 1 mm and are stable in air. The adsorption behavior of As(III) and As(V) on the Ch-FeCL was evaluated at pH 7 by studies conducted in batch and in columns. Maximum adsorption capacities estimated by the Langmuir adsorption model were 21.24 and 27.59 mg g(-1) for As(III) and As(V), respectively. Adsorption kinetics is described by the pseudo second order kinetic equation. The results of column adsorption indicated that arsenic was not found in the effluent solution from roughly 60 and 759 bed volumes for As(III) and As(V), respectively. Results were satisfactory when employing the adsorbent for removal of As(III) and As(V) from groundwater, tap water and river water samples.